I dropped my keys transiting in Narita and have to go pick them up! How does the itinerary look in my quest to do so?
A note on the Okinawa segment:the primary purpose of the departure from Kansai to Okinawa is to visit a friend who is serving on the base. If the schedule doesn’t work out, I’ll head to Himeji and explore Osaka.
December 3: Arrive in NRT. Take the train to hotel near Tokyo Station, get combining. Decide anything else based on time afterwards
December 4: Shinkansen to Kyoto. Check into hotel. Visit the Fushimi Inari gate, and after the sun sets, Toji all lit up. Maybe head up Kyoto Tower afterwards
December 5: Kiyomizudera and Ryōzen Kannon. Explore the surrounding area, head to Nishiki Market later.
December 6: Day trip to Nara. Tōdai-Ji and the park!
December 7: Possibly the bamboo forest and monkey park. If I do this I’ll also take a taxi to the Kinkaku-Ji.
December 8: Head to Kansai airport and board a plane for Okinawa! Take in Naha and Makishi Market
December 9: Okinawa Churumi Aquarium
December 10: Fly to Tokyo and go to Tokyo Disneyland
December 11: Tokyo DisneySea!
December 12-December 15:
1 day for shopping and picking up my keys at NRT
1-1.5 days visiting Fuji region (hitting up the Panoramic Ropeway or the Chreito Pagoda), but timings and even this excursion is weather dependent.
1 day free
December 16: Fly back to America
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December 4: This is with ‘late autumn foliage still there’, but I would head to Tofuku-ji before Fushimi Inari.
December 7: If you just want to see the highlights of Arashiyama (Iwatayama, Bamboo Grove, Tenryu-ji) – just take Randen (with transfer) to northern Kyoto and you will probably still have a time for more than Kinkaku-ji (Ryoan-ji, Ninna-ji, Kitano Tenmangu, Myoshin-ji). Personally, I dig Ninna-ji the most and if autumn foliage stays very late – walking through precincts of Myoshin-ji can be awesome.
If you have to go to Narita, I would try to make the best day trip out of it, visiting either Sawara or Boso No Mura and Narita-san – and you can squeeze in some shopping in Aeon Mall Narita area as well.