Hi everyone, this January three of my friends (18m, 18m, 17m) and I (18m) will be traveling to Japan to celebrate graduating from highschool next week. We are all from Australia and have been to Japan before however have never traveled without our family’s. Because of our age none of us will be able to drink while there and I’ve had to make some adjustments to our bookings (permission forms from parents for airBNB’s, flights, ect.) to accommodate the 17 year old since he will be considered as a minor, however this should still be fine given the activities we are doing on the trip. All of our hotels are booked with free cancelation so our itinerary is set however can still be shifted around to account for travel times. We’ll be traveling via the 2-week JR pass. We are all under budget (Budget: $3500 AUD, $2300 USD) by about $500 AUD, $325 USD, so have extra money to spend on going to nicer restaurants or more expensive attractions so suggestions are welcome.
**Day 0: Night of arrival**
We will leave from Australia at Arrive in Tokyo at 6pm, go through customs, get out of airport at around 7-7:30pm at latest, travel to Tokyo station via airport bus, travel to hotel in Shibuya via train, maybe head to a 7-11 If we are still hungry.
(note: I’ve purchased a 2 week JR-pass however will only be activating this the day after since the trip is 15 days. Due to our late arrival on this day, I’ve listed this as day ‘0’)
**Day 1-4: Tokyo day 1, 2, 3 and 4**
Choice between:
* Outer Tokyo (Exploring museums + Tsukiji outer fish market in afternoon (yes, I know the main market is closed))
* Shibuya (cat café, shibuya crossing, arcade) \*We will be coming back to Shibuya to finish up getting suveniers and larger items to bring home on the last day as to avoid extra baggage so won’t be heading to the nintendo store, pokemon store ect.
* Ginza and central Tokyo (undecided)
* Extra day (Extra day to do whatever we want, maybe more museums or akihabira?)
**Day 5: Ghibli museum + Traveling to Hakuba**
We’ll check out, travel to Shinjuku station, drop off our bags at a locker, have some breakfast in the surrounding area, board a train to the Ghibli museum, spend day at Ghibli museum and surroundings before making the way back to central Tokyo station via Shinjuku station (to pick up bags). Then we’ll make the \~3 hour trip to Hakuba via Nagano station and a bus to central Hakuba. We will be staying in a Hostel for the night.
**Day 6: Skiing day 1**
In the morning we’ll get breakfast, leave baggage at hostel, travel to gear hire, rent gear, catch shuttle bus to happo-one ski slope, spend day skiing, return gear, head to hostel and spend the night at local restaurant (or wherever is warm). If there is time and demand for it (given we will likely be freezing), we could head to the local onsen nearby the hostel which should still be open by that time.
**Day 7: Traveling to Gokayama + enjoying a Ryokan stay**
Early in the morning we will check out of the hostel and catch a bus to Nagano station. We’ll catch a \~3 hour shinkanzen to Shin-takaoka station possibly stopping in Toyama for lunch. After getting to shin-takaoka we will catch a bus to Gokayama where we will check into a Ryokan and spend the night.
**Day 8: Day in Ainokura Gassho village + travel to Kanazawa**
After breakfast is served at the Ryokan we will check out. I am yet to ask them but hopefully they will be able to hold our luggage during this day. During the day we will head to Ainokura and explore the Gassho-style houses. We’ll have afternoon tea at a local tea house, explore the folklore museum and stop by the Kappa shop. Late in the afternoon we will stop by the ryokan to pick up our luggage and will take a bus to Shin-takaoka station and a shinkanzen to Kanazawa where we will check in around 10pm to a business hotel very close to the station.
**Day 9: Morning in Kanazawa + travel to Kyoto + afternoon in Kyoto**
We will wake up early in the morning, our baggage will either be held by the business hotel or we will rent a locker at kanazawa station for the morning. We will walk down to omicho market and get some breakfast in the form of a kaisendon. Next we will walk down towards Kenrokuen garden which will hopefully be covered in snow. If we are still hungry (I’m not sure if they will have much of the food at omicho), we will stop by a tea house and grab some food. Depending on how much time we want to spend, we could stop by Oyama shrine before heading to the station and catching a train to Kyoto. At worst case scenario we will arrive in Kyoto at around 2pm which should give us time to explore around the higashiyama district. There is no particular order to these events but I’d like to get to: Ginkakuji, ‘the path of philosphy’, and kiyomizudera.
* I am still unsure as to how to handle baggage in Kyoto before we check in. We could maybe travel to the hotel first, drop off our luggage, and then travel north from kiyomizudera up to ginkakuji (we’ll likely use a taxi to get from kiyomizudera up to the higashiyama district) however this seems inefficient.
**Day 10: Day in Kyoto**
During this day in Kyoto we will focus on the arashiyma district. Our baggage will be kept at the hostel. We will head via train to arashiyama station, then explore some temples or go to the monkey park. Then we will cross over Togetsukyo bridge and head to the bamboo forest. Next we will make our way up to the golden pavilion via train to emmachi station and then via bus or taxi north to the golden pavilion. After, we will return to the hostel.
At night we have two choices:
* If we are not too tired we could head to the thousand red gates but this feels like it would make the day too cramped with temples and it would be too cold.
* Or we could go to Gion and tour the restaurants around here. Issue Is that since none of us can drink while in Japan, 18 years old is drinking age in Australia and we are all 18, we wouldn’t be able to try any of the sake here and going to an izakaya might not be interesting without this. Because of this I am thinking of booking a guided tour for this area since I feel like I am out of my comfort zone and this way the group can be pushed to try new things and enjoy the night with others who might bring more energy to the evening. I’ve found one that isn’t expensive however don’t know If a guided tour would be worth the money.
**Day 11: Day in Nara**
In the morning we will check out of the hostel and travel to Nara where we will spend the day exploring Nara park, Todaiji, street food vendors, the deer, ect. During this time we will have to rent out a luggage locker at Nara station. In the afternoon we’ll pick up our luggage and travel to Osaka. The hotel we are staying at is near dotonburi so we will check in and travel to dotonburi in the afternoon for dinner.
**Day 12: Osaka day 1**
During this day we will travel to Osaka aquarium and likely visit a museum or two. In the afternoon we will either head back to dotonburi or go to some other ‘unique’ restaurant around the area. (one idea is a restaurant where you catch your own fish and have it prepared in front of you however I don’t know what this will cost so its TBD, however the idea of trying somewhere unique sounds like it would work here, suggestions would be very appreciated)
**Day 13: Osaka day 2**
I am unsure as to how this day will go. If we wish we could spend some more time in Osaka however I’m unsure what else there is to do. We will only be here untill midday so won’t have much time since we will be heading back to Tokyo on this day. When we arrive in Tokyo we will stay close to the station and either stay in a capsule hotel or a business hotel depending on if the group are still feeling like trying a capsule hotel out by this point.
**Day 14: Final day exploring Tokyo**
On the final day we will head back to Shibuya and head to the Pokémon store, Nintendo store, and anywhere else they want to buy suveniers from. For lunch we will head to a themed café, Pokémon café probably, and will say goodbye to the city by heading to the Shibuya sky observation deck. Our flight leaves at about 9pm so I’ll try to time this up with the sunset for extra sentimentality and to really kick them in the feels. Head to airport, leave.
END
That is the plan. Thoughts?