Hello, looking forward to finally travelling to Japan again.
I’ve been to Japan a few times prior to Covid, so have done most of the standard tourist things in Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto, so would like to branch out a bit more this time. I’ve planned for the weekends to be in Tokyo, just in case there are some live events or music concerts I want to attend.
Would appreciate a quick sense check if the below schedule has any major problems that I overlooked.
|Date|Time of Day|City|Description|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|15 Dec (Thu)|4PM|Tokyo (NRT)|Flight arrival|
|16 Dec (Fri)|All Day|Tokyo|Free Time|
|17 Dec (Sat)|All Day|Tokyo|Free Time|
|18 Dec (Sun)|All Day|Gunma (JR Day Pass 1)|Maybe overnight stay at onsen ryokan|
|19 Dec (Mon)|Morning|Train to Osaka||
||Afternoon|Osaka|Aquarium?|
||Evening|Osaka|Overnight stay, check out illuminations|
|20 Dec (Tue)|Morning|Himeji|Quick look at castle and garden|
||Lunch/Afternoon|Miyajima|Tour the area, if the torii gate scaffold is gone it’d just be a bonus (Meant to remove end of 2022)|
||Evening|Miyajima|Overnight stay, relax|
|21 Dec (Wed)|Morning|Miyajima or Hiroshima|Free time|
||Lunch/Dinner|Hiroshima|Dinner plan with friend, only part of the plan that’s set|
|22 Dec (Thu)|Morning|Takamatsu (Ogijima/Megijima)|Train from Hiroshima, jump on ferry|
||Afternoon|Takamatsu|Tour garden, try udon (Inspired by a reddit post here)|
||Night|Takamatsu|Can stay overnight, or try the sleeper train back to Tokyo (9 hours)|
|23 Dec (Fri)|Morning|Osaka/Tokyo|Can head to USJ? Not sure if worth alone. Or take long stint back to Tokyo.|
||Evening|Tokyo|Relax after long train ride|
|24 Dec (Sat)|All Day|Tokyo/Yokohama (JR Day Pass 7)|Free time|
|25 Dec (Sun)|All Day|Tokyo|Free time|
|26 Dec (Mon)|12:15PM|Tokyo (HND)|Flight departure|
Main questions/comments are:
1. Are there any alternative for this itinerary for Osaka that’d be refreshing?
2. Not knowing much about Takamatsu, is visiting both Ogijima and Megijima possible, and is there enough difference in characteristics for it to be worth visiting both?
3. Sunrise Seto (Sleeper Train from Takamatsu to Tokyo), anyone have an experience how difficult it is to book with JR Pass? Is the private compartment worth it, or does it lose the charm.
4. Undecided on Gunma trip overnight stay. Can also just do a day trip somewhere instead.
5. Nothing is set in stone except I’ll catch up for dinner with a friend in Hiroshima.
6. Note I have not booked any accommodation yet, so hopefully with 2 months and just before peak travel season it’ll still be okay.
7. Not fussed about the Tokyo part, I’ll keep myself busy based on the day.
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Thank you all for the help and comments in advance.
Apologies if formatting isn’t great, will fix when I can.