Hi! I’ll be in Japan for the first time from 26 December to 23 January. 7 weeks away! I’ve put together a first cut itinerary and would be really grateful for any thoughts. In terms of background:
* I haven’t yet booked accommodation. I have a feeling I should, very soon, but I’d like to get that ball rolling only after taking comments on any big picture changes I should be making to the below (in case I end up enslaved to when I’m staying where in a way that isn’t ideal).
* I’m into j-pop, utaite culture, vtubers, animals, anime and video games, nature and quaint towns and landscapes. Roughly in that order of priority.
* The below is subject to a couple of networking lunches and coffees in Tokyo which haven’t been locked in yet.
* Also subject to whether I manage to get my hands on any domestic concert tickets, which in turn depends on (a) whether I can get a contact on the ground to sort me a local SIM in time for me to apply for them, and (b) making it through the lottery processes even if I do get to applying. I know at least Wacci, Da-ice and Amatsuki are playing during my stay. I also know I’ve missed the boat on Ado and Yuuri which is a huge shame.
* Also subject to events and or exhibits (of the pop-up / collab kind) that I haven’t found out about yet, or that have yet to be announced.
* I would like to visit some solid music / record stores for newly released albums, but also to browse e.g. city pop and 90s music. I’m told Shibuya and Shimokitazawa are the places to be for that.
* I’m roughly at N3 for kanji and vocab, N5 for grammar.
* I’ll be going on my own.
In terms of particular questions I had:
* Is the below realistic? Am I likely to need quieter days if I’m going for as long as a month?
* Are there any obvious issues with my order of events? I have consciously tried to put the theme parks and ski trip on weekdays for fewer crowds, and Akiba on a Sunday.
* For the Nagano-Kanazawa-Gifu days, is it feasible to be based in one place and for the rest to be day trips? It won’t be the end of the world if I end up having to put some of my luggage in a station somewhere, but it’s also not that ideal.
* I will be getting the 21-day JR Pass. I presume it’s worth getting a 7-day JR pass too on top of that, to cover my last week in Tokyo?
* Is there anything else I can do / should be doing in the winter season, or over Dec and Jan? I’m not very imaginative so I can only think of snow-related things.
* Have I missed anything glaringly obvious in terms of itinerary items that I would enjoy, given my list of interests?
|Date|Location|Itinerary|
:–|:–|:–|
|Mon 26 Dec|Tokyo|Arrival at Haneda Airport (9am), Shibuya|
|Tue 27 Dec|Tokyo|Marunouchi (networking), Red Tokyo Tower, Odaiba (Tokyo Joypolis)|
|Wed 28 Dec|Mt Fuji|Fuji-Q Highland (Hololive tie-in ends 30 Dec)|
|Thu 29 Dec|Tokyo|teamLab Planets, Tokyo Skytree, [Animal Cafes], [Nijisanji Unit Music Festival (NJU)]|
|Fri 30 Dec|Tokyo|[Comiket]/[NJU]|
|Sat 31 Dec|Tokyo|[Comiket]/[NJU]|
|Sun 1 Jan|Tokyo|Akihabara|
|Mon 2 Jan|Tokyo|Shinjuku, Shimokitazawa, Nakano Broadway|
|Tue 3 Jan|Nagano|Karuizawa|
|Wed 4 Jan|Nagano|Jigokudani Monkey Park (onsen monkeys)|
|Thu 5 Jan|Nagano|Achi (stargazing)|
|Fri 6 Jan|Ishikawa|Kanazawa|
|Sat 7 Jan|Gifu|Takayama|
|Sun 8 Jan|Gifu|Shirakawago|
|Mon 9 Jan|Niigata|Gala Yuzawa Ski Resort|
|Tue 10 Jan|Niigata|Gala Yuzawa Ski Resort|
|Wed 11 Jan|Kyoto|Higashiyama, Fushimi-Inari, Shinbashi|
|Thu 12 Jan|Kyoto|Arashiyama|
|Fri 13 Jan|Nara|Nara|
|Sat 14 Jan|Osaka|Osaka Aquarium, Tempozan|
|Sun 15 Jan|Osaka|Minami, Denden Town|
|Mon 16 Jan|Osaka|USJ|
|Tue 17 Jan|Ehime|Aoshima (cat island)|
|Wed 18 Jan|Tokyo|Marunouchi (networking), Small Worlds Tokyo, [Animal Cafes]/TBC|
|Thu 19 Jan|Tokyo|Hakone|
|Fri 20 Jan|Tokyo|Tokyo Disneyland|
|Sat 21 Jan|Tokyo|TBC|
|Sun 22 Jan|Tokyo|TBC|
|Mon 23 Jan|Tokyo|Departure from Haneda (morning flight)|
2 comments
No, you do not want to use JR Pass in Tokyo. A single train or subway ride can be 200 yen…. and the 7 days pass is 30 000 yen. I would even say that if you can do Karuizawa and back to Tokyo in 14 days, it would be cheaper than the 21 days pass.
Red Tokyo Tower because of Hololive collab?
I do not especially like the Gala Yuzawa part, it will require to return toward Tokyo quite a bit. It could make more sense to do Karuizawa, Nagano, then a ski resort closer to this area, like Hakuba, Shigakogen or Nozawa Onsen.
Then continue to Takayama, do shirakawa-go as a stop on the way to Kanazawa. And to answer the question, it would be possible to do Takayama as a day trip from Kanazawa id you really want to avoid changing hotel, but it’s 2h one way by train.
Forget Aoshima, not realistic at all.
I would check to stop by Hakone for a night if you can get a ryokan for a night, I personally really like the experience.
Dec 27, why not do teamLab Planets on this day while you are around odaiba?
On Jan 1, Tokyo basically shuts down – go to some parks, shrines instead of Akiba.
Jan 2, Shinjuku, Shimokita and Nakano Broadway is ambitious on one day. Do the latter two and give Shinjuku at least half a day.
Buying and using a 21 day JR Pass during your first and last weeks in Tokyo (when you’re not taking any inter-city trips) is a waste. While you are staying within a city, a JR Pass is not worth it at all. If you order a 14 day Pass and activate it on the day you go to Nagano, you’ll save a fair amount of money.
I would say either use the 14 day JR Pass and reorganise parts of the trip so that you return to Tokyo within 14 days, or just don’t bother with a JR Pass, buy your Shinkansen tickets individually, and use an IC card for everything else.
You could also look into whether any of the regional JR Passes are worth it, but again, to break even you’ll need to make a fair amount of long journeys.
Otherwise, it looks good to me. It’s a bit unclear from the table which days you are travelling between prefectures, so I can’t really comment on the timing of the plans there.