Hello! This would be my second trip to Japan since 2018 and would be my first time solo traveling. I’m currently 19 (20 by the time I go on the trip) and can understand Japanese. I’m still not 100% sure on the time I will be going on the trip, either around February or hopefully around the time Comiket is held which would be either August or December. I have an interest mainly anime/manga, arcade/rhythm games, electronics, history, Shodo, Onsen, and art/illustration. Currently I’m just in the planning phase so this is still a very wip first draft. It’s also my first time planning a trip by myself so I would appreciate some feedback on the balance in activities between days, if there are parts of the trip I should reorder as well as nice places/experiences to visit if anyone has any suggestions. Also wondering if I should merge Osaka and Kyoto together, stay in one prefecture and just take day trips to the other and have Hiroshima near the end of the trip?
I’m not quite sure where I should be staying in terms of accommodation yet, although I might stay near the Shinjuku station area since that’s where I was last trip. Maybe I’ll start out staying in smaller business hotels/capsule hotels in the beginning and stay at the nicer hotels near the end of the trip. Debating whether or not to remove Kamakura since I am already visiting Kyoto and Nara and people suggest you might get “templed out”, although I would like to visit Enoshima. I’m also open to removing and adding regions if there is a nicer route to take. I’m also thinking of removing the day trip to Nikko and instead stopping at Kanazawa before heading back to Tokyo.
**Day 1 – Arrival**
Arrive to airport, take transportation to hotel and rest
**Day 2 – Harajuku, Shibuya**
* Meiji Shrine
* Government Building
* Harajuku and Shimokitazawa
* Hachiko Statue and Shibuya Crossing, shopping
* Center Gai
**Day 3 – Akihabara**
* Asakusa in the morning
* Akihabara (Melonbooks, Radio Kaikan, Mandarake, Yodobashi Camera, Tower Records, Don Quijote, Sofmap eating at Hunters Bar and Tenkaippin)
* Cat cafe
* Kanda Myoujin
* Ueno Park
* Manga cafe/internet cafes
**Day 4 – Odaiba**
* Tsukiji Outer Market early morning
* teamLabs Planet
* Odaiba DiverCity and Gundam statue
* SMALL WORLDS Tokyo
* Fuji TV Building
**Day 5 – Mitaka**
* Ghibli Museum in the morning, reserve tickets
* Nakano Broadway
* Kabukicho at night
**Day 6 – Kamakura**
* Day trip to Kamakura and Enoshima taking the Eno-Den train to Enoshima after visiting Great Buddha, temples and shrines in Kamakura
**Day 7 – Osaka**
Check out of Tokyo accommodation and take the shinkansen to Osaka.
* Visit 海遊館/Osaka Aquarium
* Explore the city
* Transit: Shinjuku Station > Shin-Osaka Station (2 hr 53 min)
**Day 8 – Osaka**
* Dotonbori
* Amerikamura
* たこ焼きわなか
* 串カツだるま
* Nanba
**Day 9 – Kobe**
* Himeji Castle
* Travel to Kobe afterwards
* Transit: Osaka Station > Himeji Station > Kobe Station
**Day 10 – Hiroshima**
Check out of Osaka
* Atomic Bomb Dome
* Peace Museum
* Peace Park
* Okonomimura
* Transit: Shin-Osaka Station > Hiroshima Station
**Day 11 – Hiroshima**
* Ferry to Miyajima
* Itsukushima Shrine, Floating Torii Gate
* Hassei okonomiyaki
* Transit: Hiroshima Station > JR Sanyo Line to Miyajimaguchi Station > Miyajima Ferry
**Day 12 – Kyoto**
Check out of Hiroshima accommodation
* head for Kyoto on the Shinkansen. Check in to hotel
* Kinkaku-ji
* Arashiyama
* Transit: Hiroshima Station > Kyoto Station (1 hr 35 min)
**Day 13 – Kyoto**
* Day trip to Nara Park to see the deers and shrines.
* Transit: Kyoto Station > Nara Station
**Day 14 – Kyoto**
* Fushimi Inari early morning
* Kiyomizu-dera
* Nishiki Market
* Eat at Kichi Kichi Omurice
**Day 15 – Kinosaki Onsen**
* Go to Kinosaki Onsen and check into ryokan.
* Walk around the town
* Ride cable car to mount daishi
* relax in an onsen
* Transit: Kyoto Station > Kinosaki Onsen Station (2 hr 26 min)
**Day 16 – Back to Tokyo**
* Head back to Tokyo from Kinosaki Onsen. Check into hotel then visit Edo-Tokyo museum.
* Transit: Kinosaki Onsen > Kyoto Station > Shinagawa Station > Shinjuku Station (6 hr 2 min)
**Day 17 – Tokyo**
* Take a day trip to Nikko in Tochigi
**Day 18 – Tokyo**
* Take a day trip to Hakone using the Romancecar on the Odakyu Railway in Shinjuku
**Day 19 – Tokyo**
* Visit Tokyo Tower
* Shopping
* Tokyo National Museum
* Imperial Palace
**Day 20 – Tokyo**
* Free day, maybe shopping for souvenirs.
**Day 21 – Return**
Arrive at airport to return
* Transit: Train or Taxi to Airport
1 comment
Day 2, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building I assume, it’s nice because it’s free, but I would check Shibuya Sky instead that would be a more interesting experience.
Day 3, while Akihabara is cool and you might want to see it asap, if you are to buy stuff, move it to the end and avoid moving all your shopping round trip to Kansai/Hiroshima.
Day 6, you may or may not be temples out as people say, but if you do not want to take a chance, move that day at then end after doing Kyoto/Nara. If you do not want to see more temple and shrines, switch it for an extra day in Tokyo, but if you are fine, then do the trip to Kamakura. Do one of your other daytrip here instead. I personally love temples and can tell that you might not get bored too.
Day 9, I would stop by Himeji on the way to Hiroshima, otherwise you are kind of wasting time on the train backtracking. It’s not that bad… but if you can avoid it, why not ?… Actually, considering you want to do Kinosaki, the proper order would be this. Go to Hiroshima/Miyajima first, on the return, leave kind of early in the morning and stop by Himeji and take the Hamakaze limited express at 13:25 to be in Kinosaki just after 3pm. Then next morning move to Kyoto. That would make much more sense than your current itinerary.
While yes you could do Osaka/Kyoto only from one city, doing both will allow you to break long travel time over different days.