It has always been my(29M) dream to go to Japan since I was a kid. I decided that I would reward myself with my dream trip once I earned my Master’s degree in mathematics. The moment my degree was conferred, I bought my ticket. The following is a rough draft of my itinerary. I know that I could pack more in each day and might still do so, but I like to go and see places at a casual pace and open up my visit for exploration. Some days more have a goal I want to accomplish by that day or a bunch of things I’d like to do and narrow it down once I am there and adjust accordingly. Tell me what you think!
**Japan trip June 10th – July 17th**
***June 10th – June 20th: Main base – Tokyo***
June 10th
* Land in Haneda around 2 pm. Pick up pocket wifi, Suica. Check in at the hotel, explore the general area if possible, but will most likely knock out.
June 11th
* Explore more of the general area, Akihabara, Tokyo Skytree, etc. (all close by my hotel)
June 12th
* Asakusa
* 21\_21 Design Sight
* Nogi Shrine
* Nakamise
* Sensoji Temple
* Denboin St.
June 13th
* Shibuya
* Hachikō Memorial Statue
* Shibuya Scramble
* Shibuya Crossing
* Shops: Daiso, Shibuya 109 Mega Donki, GU
June 14th
* Shinjuku
* Shinjuku Gyoen Park
* Shinjuku Central Park
* Department Stores(Takashimaya, Keio, Isetan)
June 15th
* Ueno
* Ueno Park
* Ueno Zoo
* Tokyo National Museum
June 16th
* Yokohama Day trip
* Cup Noodle Museum
* Life sized Gundam at Gundam Factory
* Sky Garden Observatory
* Bandai Namco store
June 17th
* Studio Ghibli museum(if possible, can switch with another available day or when I return to Tokyo later),
June 18th (At this point I will redeem voucher and activate JR Rail Pass for 21 days)
* FUji-Q highland Amusement Park
June 19th
* Hakone day trip
* Onsen
* Putter golf
* Museums
June 20th
* Shopping, Souvenirs, etc (rest day)
***June 21st-July 5th: Main Base: Kyoto***
June 21st
* Check out of hotel in Tokyo, Shinkansen to Kyoto, Check in, Check out local area
June 22nd
* Kyoto Local area and temples
* Fushimi Inari Taisha
* Kyoto Gyoen National Garden
* Nijo Castle
June 23rd
* Arashiyama
* Tenryuji
* Bamboo grove,
* Okochi Sanso
* Kimono Forest
June 24th
* Kyoto Area(anything I couldn’t do before and possibly):
* Kyoto Manga Museum
* Philosopher’s path
June 25th
* Nagoya day trip
* Nagoya Castle
* Peace Park
* Science Museum
* Toyota Museum
June 26th
* Iga Ueno day trip
* Ninja Museum
* Castle
* Explore Area
June 27th
* Nara Day trip
* Nara Park
* Wakakusayama
* Gardens
* Temples
June 28th
* Himeji Day trip:
* Himeji Castle
* Explore area
June 29th-June 30th
* Osaka area
* Osaka Castle
* Osaka Aquarium
* Explore area
July 1st
* Universal Studios(if possible, can switch with another available day)
July 2nd
* Kinosaki Onsen Day Trip
July 3rd
* Nijigen no Mori (if possible depending on availability, Naruto and dragon quest parks) at Awajishima
July 4th
* Shopping, Souvenirs, etc (rest day)
***July 5th – July 8th: Main base – Hiroshima***
July 5th
* Check out of hotel, Shinkansen to Hiroshima, Check in, dinner and explore area/rest
July 6th
* Genbaku Atomic Dome, Hiroshima Peace Park and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, try a vending machine pizza (saw a video of this and not sure why I want it so badly?)
July 7th
* Explore Miyajima and shrines, etc
***July 8th – July 17th: Main base – Tokyo***
July 8th
* Check out of hotel, Shinkansen to Tokyo, Check in, Take a stroll or visit a quick area I was unable to see
July 9th(JR Rail pass ends. Using Suica for rest of time in Tokyo) to July 16th
* Souvenir shopping, Visit and have day trips or complete things I couldn’t do before. Maybe check Eastern areas in japan if time permits.
* Things to do in between first weeks of Tokyo and these days to fit in when available:
* Sword Museum
* National Museum
* Teamlabs Planet
* Joypolis
* Toei Animation Museum
* Suginami Animation Museum
* Sunshine Aquarium
July 17th
* Check out of the hotel, have lunch, and go to Haneda airport for my flight.
3 comments
June is rainy season! Make sure you bring rainboots/umbrella/raincoat! You could probably buy an umbrella in Japan, too.
June 13th – Be sure to add areas nearby Shibuya when you visit like Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Cat St, Omotesando, Daikanyama, Nakameguro etc
June 14th – Add Nakano Broadway to the day if you are interested in Akihabara as well, short ride away from Shinjuku, can visit that or Ikebukuro.
June 15th- Imo you could do Ueno and Asakusa on the same day easily so you could perhaps fit another area in for this day.
I see you have lots of remaining days in Tokyo so a few other areas you could check out (not including the ones I mentioned earlier) – Shimokitazawa, Ginza/Imperial Palace/Tokyo Station area, Kagurazaka, Shibamata, Yanaka Ginza, Koenji, Gotokuji Temple, Ebisu, Shin Okubo.
Lots of day trip options out of Tokyo as well like Kamakura/Enoshima, Nikko, Kawagoe, Chichibu etc.
June 24th – Would recommend you doing all the Higashiyama stuff on one of the days (didn’t notice you including any of them except for Philosopher’s path), you can walk all the way from the north to the south parts of Higashiyama, until you reach Kiyomizu Dera. (Philosopher’s path is around the north part) Lots of nice temples and sights along the way, like Jisho-ji, Heian Shrine, Nanzenji, Yasaka, Sannenzaka, Ninenzaka etc, and end the day around Gion and Pontocho Alley
June 28th – I’d say Himeji is good for half a day, you could spend the other half in other cities like Kobe or Kurashiki/Okayama.
*Some days more have a goal I want to accomplish by that day or a bunch of things I’d like to do and narrow it down once I am there and adjust accordingly. Tell me what you think!*
That is the way to go. Be flexible, use your list as options and not must do everything. Just take your time an enjoy.
June 12 – you are mixing locations in Akasaka (21_21 Design Sight, Nogi Shrine) and Asakusa (Senso-ji)… Not taht it is impossible, but could make more sense do do tings in the same area on the same day.
June 18, you won’t save much using the JR Pass to Kawaguchiko because you will have to pay an extra to ride the Fuji Excursion direct to Kawaguchiko or stop at Otsuki and pay for the local train to Fuji Q/Kawacughiko.
June 19, you mean daytrip or stay overnight ? Would recommend to stay overnight in a ryokan with kaiseki meal and go to Kyoto next morning.
June 25. Why do Nagoya as a day trip instead of a stop between Tokyo and Kyoto ?
July 2, if you have to stay for a night in a ryokan, it have to be in Kinosaki it is a really nice experience (even before Hakone, like stay in a cheap hotel and go to a onsen in Hakone is fine as long as you do one night in a ryokan).
July 5…. ohh… it’s starting to make no sense to me… ok… so, consider this. Start in Kyoto, next go to Hiroshima, the day you leave Hiroshima, you stop at Himeji for the morning, like get there early, eat lunch and at 1:25, get in the Hamazake train direct to Kinosaki, spend the night there, move to Osaka the next day. Then from Osaka you could stop by Nagoya on the return to Tokyo. And yes, I would split the stay between Kyoto and Osaka.
​
I would bet that you do not need a JR Pass. I mean not the national pass.
Kawaguchiko is not fully covered anyway an you would have to pay 1200 yen each way, so use the bus to go to Fuji Q, it’S just 2000 yen each way. Using JR you would save max 1600 yen.
Hakone, if you are in the Shinjuku area, get a Hakone Free Pass from Shinjuku and pay the extra to ride the Romancecar. If you are not close to Shinjuku, you can take the shinkansen to Odawara (more expensive) or local JR train, obviously slower. Supposing you do by shinkansen, it’s 4000 yen one way.
Next, Odawara-Kyoto is 12 000 yen on the Shinkansen.
I do not feel like calculating the Himeji-Hiroshima-Kinosaki part, let’s just say 15 000 yen that is the cost of the [JR West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass](https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai_hiroshima/), it’s 5 days, day 1 go to Hiroshiam, 4 Himeji-Kinosaki, 5 Osaka.
Day trip to Iga from Kyoto – 2500 yen
Day trip to Nara from Osaka – Kyoto – 1500 (by the way, Kintestu have their train station 1km closer to Nara station, so don’t use JR if you do not have to).
Osaka-Nagoya and Nagoya-Tokyo 6700 + 11 300, total 18 000.
​
So, let’s make our total saving if you use JR Pass. My total use is 54 600… and JR Pass 21 days… 60 450 from a reseller… So let me know how you plan to spend the extra 5850 yen to make the pass the same price as my calculation…. Nijigen no mori ? good try, either go from bus direct from Osaka or if you take the train in Kobe, that can be done for 320 yen one way between Osaka ans Sannomiya using Hanshin.
And as a bonus, you will be able to use the faster Nozomi shinkansen.