Japan March 2023 – April 2023

31 comments

1. op you sure must be flash to cover all this in one day! lol

2. You’ve got some great idea’s here, however seem to be trying to cram way too much into a day.

   Ie: Day 2 – I find it very unlikely you can go from Skytree -> Tskuji -> Akihabrara – Uneo in a day and see everything. When I done this, Tsukiji was say 3 hours plus, Akihabra 1 day to explore the area, Uneo 3 hours minimum, and then another couple of hours at the skytree and Ginza. What you have planned is probably 2days minimum for just this day.

   Of your unplanned list, some items are going to require multiple days such as Fushimi Inari Taishia (Kyoto – minimum a day), Nara, Donotonbori (in Osaka) being at least another day.

   I would strongly recommend you cut the 6 days a Disneyland back to 2 maximum (like we did – this is already overkill) and use the extra days to visit Osaka and Kyoto (no extra in Tokyo).

   Tokyo is great – but make sure you spend an equal amount of time seeing other cities.

3. There is way too much going each day you need to trim things back. It is even more challenging that you’re changing areas frequently throughout the day increase the amount of travel you’re doing. Also you really don’t need 6 days at Tokyo Disneyland unless you’re planning on riding everything 8-10 times

4. > 6 days in Tokyo Disneyland

   Frankly, even including a visit to Kasai Rinkan Koen, Disneyland/DisneySea shouldn’t take more than 2-3 days.

   Note that USJ, Osaka-jo (and we generally recommend visiting either Himeji or Hikone), Nara Park area and Fushimi Inari Taisha would take at least 3 days and we consider 5-6 days as a bare minimum need to visit Kansai (2½ days for Kyoto, ½ day for Nara, a day for Osaka and a day for Himeji/Kobe).

   > Tashirojima

   This is two day trip with overnight stay required in either Sendai or Ishinomaki, unless you would be satisfied with two hour stay on the island after 4 hours+ one-way trip.

   Day 1: Meiji Jingu, Yoyogi Park, Shinjuku Gyoen and Harajuku can be done within a single day, although you seriously underestimate the length of the queues at some of Harajuku’s establishments. Doing Nakano Broadway on the same day would be somewhat silly. Robot Restaurant is closed because of pandemic and fairly unlikely to re-open.

   Day 2: Note that the wholesale market moved to Shin-Toyosu, so if you are visiting Tsukiji for sights rather than a brunch – that would be a miss. Also that is probably at least 1½ days worth of itinerary. Akihabra → Ameya Yokocho → Ueno → Asakusa → Skytree route would make some sense, but putting anything on top of that would make it impossible.

   Day 6: Oedo-Onsen Monogatari shuts down permanently in September. Note also that combining Shin-Yokohama and Odaiba would be fairly awkward. It would make more sense to start a day in Tsukiji/Shimbashi/Ginza (leftovers of day 2) and then move on to Odaiba.

5. Theres going to be a lot of dead time here. Maybe you should combine all the sightseeing stops into one day and then spend 13 days in Disney Land.

6. I know you mentioned not all items on each day need to be done, but in reality, you’ll need to pick 3 or 4 each day that you’ll actually be able to do.

   A quick couple of points:

   Any particular reason you would want to visit Laduree in Tokyo? I love Laduree, but if you’re in Europe there’s branches in Ireland, UK, Germany and obviously France, and The US has them in New York and LA.

   Robot Restaurant is almost certainly gone for good. There may be other places on your list that are no longer there post COVID

   Day 6, most people may also want to visit Teamlab Borderless

   With so much that you want to do, 6 days in Tokyo Disney is a bit much. You could probably cut that down to 3 and do some other things. For example, in your time in Kansai/Kyoto, it’s nice to combine the Hozugawa River Cruise (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3966.html) with a walk up to the Iwatayama Monkey Park and a wander around Arishiyama, as the river cruise drops you off in the area, and your plans include little time around there

7. FYI, Nakagin Capsule Tower may be [demolished](https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2021/07/02/nakagin-capsule-tower-at-risk-of-demolition.html) soon.

   I know that you said that the list isn’t meant to be a list of everything that you want to get to, just a list of possible spots in each area.

   But that said, given that you have a wide range of interests represented in your potential destinations, I would suggest paring back the amount of time you spend in Disneyland, and giving that time to some of these other destinations on your list instead.

   I would also gently suggest identifying which of those items are must sees, that you think you would regret leaving Japan without visiting, and then prioritizing those.

8. In general, there is way too much things each day. If it’s just options, then ok, but do not think you can do everything. You also have several time the same chain like Mandarake and Tokyu Hands, but you will see, they are about the same anywhere, same goes for stores like Animate.

   Day 1, start by Meiji shrine and Yoyogi park, that are open earlier, then you can go to Takeshita, where the store open around 10-11 am. Nakano Broadway does not fit in that day, you should do it while returning from Ghibli museum as it is on the same train line.

   Day 2, the order on this one is a bit wrong, Skytree should be followed by Asakusa taht is right next to it, then Ueno, Akihabara does make sense. In my opinion, tsukiji does not really fit in that day and can easily be a skip considering it’s now mostly restaurant and street food. for me Tokyo Tower is also a skip as you already go to an observation deck earlier and if I had to select a second paid one, it would be Roppongi Hills Mori Tower that have roof access, art museum and view on Tokyo tower.

   Day 3-4 are surprisingly empty, If you have extra time, you should for sure go to places you missed or start going to place of the next days, like Shibuya. As said previously, do Nakano broadway after Ghibli.

   Day 6, the ramen museum is more a ramen food court and it only open at 11am, so it would be a late start to the day and a quite early meal. If you ask me, just completely skip it to eat ramen somewhere else and take the day for Odaiba only. Tsukiji could be done on that day actually.

   For things that are close, Robot Restaurant is close and not sure if it will be back, [Nakagin Capsule tower is set to be demolished in march 2022](https://soranews24.com/2021/07/01/nakagin-capsule-tower-in-tokyo-is-scheduled-to-be-demolished-needs-your-help/) and [Oedo-Onsen monogatari will close this fall](https://soranews24.com/2021/06/24/one-of-tokyos-best-hot-spring-complexes-is-closing-for-good/).

9. Nara is a deffo must. Really lovely place to walk around and see the Bowing deer.

10. I understand being excited & wanting to see as much as you can but this is trip is waaaaay over planned IMO. Leave some time to just wander & explore that is where the real magic happens. Some of my best days in Tokyo were spent just loading up my Suica card & taking the metro to random neighborhoods & exploring.

11. Lol am I in /r/japancirclejerk? There’s no way this isn’t satire.

12. I’ve never done one myself, but I imagine a guided tour would have a similar itinerary. Most of these are just “drive-by” destinations just so one can say they’ve been, but there’s probably not enough time spent at each location to really take it all in. Sounded like you’ve been to many of these locations before, so it begs the question of why you think it’s necessary to go back to a place you’ve already seen?

13. K

14. You are doing way too much. Just spend one day walking around and sitting down at cafes and enjoying your life.

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16. You freezing time to get all of that stuff done lol?

17. Whoa! This is what I call maximizing 24 hours in a day!

    2c For a week trip pick Tokyo OR Osaka. You can’t really do both and enjoy either. Also, pick 3-4 things you want to do per day. If you have time to do other things youll have an overflow list.

18. Ok

19. wahhh so many itinerary in a day..goodluck to you 😊

20. Did not schedule pooping and peeing, amateur mistake

21. I would in between certain places “📸drink water and piss📸”, just so you don’t forget. Other than that seems really really do able, if anything you might have too much downtime. Have fun!

22. Fuck me you’re going to be tired. Will you actually be able to enjoy it with this much planning?

23. Cross Oedo Onsen Odaiba, it is closing this September
    It used to be my fav when I lived in Tokyo, too..

    https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/odaiba-hot-spring-theme-park-oedo-onsen-monogatari-is-closing-down-062421

24. Ok I only read day 1 and this is too much.

    Nakano Broadway you can lose hours in by itself.

    Also, cat cafe mocha has had some bad press for not treating their cats well.

    Also also if you do Meiji shrine early you’ll beat the group tours (so pre-10am), and one end leads you out to Harajuku Station. I’d look at a map and plan routes more specifically if you really want to try doing all of this but….. you probably won’t and need to cut it down.

    Also remember places like the Sailor Moon cafe and the Eorzea Cafe and any other themed cafes you will most likely need a reservation for, and if you can’t get one, show up at open to see if they’ll give you a waiting number.

    Tsukiji Market moved.

    Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro is closing.

    If you like anime, check out Otome Road in Ikebukuro, that’s where a lot of the resale shops are like KBOOKS game and for sports anime and idol anime etc.

    Day 4 IF you can get tickets to Ghibli (hard especially now, who knows about the future), put Nakano Broadway this day too, it’s much closer to there than Harajuku/Shinjuku.

    Mandarake Shibuya— you will see more interesting Mandarakes in Nakano Broadway. They carry different goods but also it’s the same store. Same with Don Quijote, why the Shibuya one specifically?

    Expect things like Puyoland and … wait Yokohama is like an hour away from Tokyo, did you factor that in?

    Oedo Onsen Monogatari is closing this September.

    Six Days at Disney? Without Disney Sea at all?
    Also Osaka isn’t close, if you’re only going to see Universal Studios cut your Disney Trip down to only one day per park and spend more time in Kansai. Osaka and Nara but no Kyoto? Or Hakone on the way?

25. Hey I’m planning a trip around the same time as well. This gives me a lot of insight into what I can do as well. Thank you so much for sharing!

26. Hi OP, looking at the itinerary, it seems to be your first time to Japan.

    You might be underestimating the travel component and possibly your foot strength/stamina. I don’t know how many people are going and where are you flying from. Factor in jetlag and difference in taste or objective for each person travelling, your itinerary does not look like a holiday.

    But luckily you have 20 days or so to play around with. So it might work.

    Having been to Japan few times, the most fun I had was when I made ‘less detailed’ itinerary.

    Here are my tips:

    – Jetlag might cost you a day to acclimatize. You might also need to learn their train/subway system. You will get lost.

    – Japan has LOTS of stairs and I would not be surprised if you cover 15kms per day on daily basis. Hope you all super fit and bring nice shoes.

    – 7 days in Tokyo (10 if you spend few more on Disney) and 13/10 in Kansai Area. Allows few days back in Tokyo at the back end (if you are flying from Tokyo).

    – Shopping mostly done in last 2 days only to avoid bringing it everywhere.

    – Group the areas up. My suggestion is 2 areas. If you have time spare, then add them as you go.

    – Eg. Shibuya-Harajuku then if times allows Shinjuku. Akiba-Ueno. Tsukiji-Odaiba and so on.

    – I always try to find accommodation within Yamanote line stations for easier travel.

    – If you are using JR Pass, 7 days one will give you problems in the middle where you try to fit in all Kansai spots. Otherwise you go 14 days or buy a single trip Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

    – I actually prefer to dedicate more time to Kansai area than Tokyo. As a first timer, it has more highlights than Tokyo area.

    – Even more if you include trips to Kobe/Nara/Himeji or even Hiroshima/Miyajima.

    – Consider Hakone rather than cramming up schedules looking at shops in Tokyo.

    – Since I don’t see your Kansai itinerary yet, so I can’t comment much.

    – You are bound to get tired from walking and 20 consecutive days, well good luck.

    – Shops / goods sold over there are so appealing that you will be wasting a lot of time. Even the 7-11 and Family Marts will cost you time.

    Enjoy your trips and hope you can see all you wish to see over there.

27. This is nuts. It’s simultaneously way overplanned and way underplanned.

    First and foremost: ***6 days at DisneyLand is a colossal waste of time.*** If you’ve been to Disneyland in California, you’ve basically seen Tokyo Disneyland already (only with less insane crowds and without everything in Japanese). Even if you still wanted to do it, 1 day should be more than enough, though even then I would spend that 1 day at DisneySea since it’s at least more unique to Japan.

    As for Tokyo and its environs–the only realistic day you have planned is Day 4. All of the other days could probably be split into 2 full days each and still be packed. And that’s without even considering extra time for unplanned exploration and shopping (to say nothing of all the areas you’re skipping entirely).

    The stuff you have listed under “Places Not Scheduled Yet” is really quite a lot. For example, I would typically recommend ***AT LEAST*** 6-7 full days just for a quick run-through of the highlights of the Kyoto/Osaka/Nara area, and that would not typically not include things like Universal Studios, so that would be extra. I would actually argue that Kansai has at least as much to do and see as Kanto. Nara Park alone could be a full day, and I would recommend at least 3 full days just for the main sightseeing areas of urban Kyoto.

    Things like the airports and Shin-Yokohama Station are not attractions–they’re things you speed through as quickly as possible if and when you have to so that you can get to stuff that’s actually fun or interesting. Tashirojima is ludicrously out of the way for what it is. If you really want to see a bunch of stray cats, you can find plenty of those in Kanto and Kansai (the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto always has a bunch, for example). The Robot Restaurant and Ooedo Onsen Monogatari will both be closed by the time you’re visiting (the former is already closed), and honestly it’s for the better–neither were worth your time. The vast majority of what Tsukiji once was has also now closed and moved to Toyosu (which is a very different experience). Themed cafes are money sinks for what is often sub-par food and drinks. If there are a couple that are really important to you then go for it (with advanced reservations), but filling your schedule with them is extremely ill-advised. Animal cafes are also ill-advised if you actually care about the welfare of the animals. Some of the cat ones might be okay, but I would steer well clear of ones featuring more exotic animals (e.g., owls). Things like Starbucks, Don Quijote, Daiso, etc. do not need special mention on your itinerary. Do not go out of your way for them–they are everywhere.

28. Day 6 is weird. You go all the way out to Shin Yokohama only for the Ramen Museum?
    It’s not that impressive.

    At least spend the rest of the day in Yokohama, which has a lot more to offer. Odaiba should also need an entire day, and if you go to Shin-Yokohama on the same day, you will not be in Odaiba before 13/14 at earliest.

    So my tip is to go to Yokohama on day 6, and do Odaiba on day 7.

    Also, Oedo Onsen will close forever from September 15th this year.

    Day 5, has a similar issue with Sanrio Puroland followed by at least a day or two worth of activities in Shibuya. You can do a few of them, or look up another area for a half day, like Shimokitazawa.

    Day 1 and 2 are probably 3-4 days in total, but the contents seems ok.

    However, it’s your choice, but I will be honest, that you should look up if the cat/other animal cafés are treating the animals ok. Lots of the more touristy animal cafés doesn’t treat the animals very well. Very few are actually good ones, and at the good ones, the cats are often not as cute..

    Day 1, Kebab Box J. Not sure why you have this, lol. Kebab in Japan is not that great. The only time I almost enjoyed it was after a night of drinking xD

    Also not sure why you have the airports to be scheduled, as if they are destinations.. I would never go out of my way to go to them, unless if I were an airplane nerd and there was planned to be a specific aircraft landing there! And if I were an airplane nerd, I would look up of there was an airshow at the time of the visit instead. Just a bit perplexed!

    You seem to have done a lot of research, which is nice. Maybe less planned stops per day, less weird traveling, but otherwise ok!

29. As someone who was a cast member and has been to all the parks except China…I spent 2 full days at Tokyo Disneyland (one at Sea and one at land) and a half day exploring around the hotels etc. We sprung for Mira Costa and it was definitely worth it. I felt like I was able to see a lot. We didn’t go on any rides that we have at Disneyland or World.

    It is your vacation!! Do what you feel like is enough for you. I would have liked to have one more day, but I also felt guilty about potentially taking away time from something else cool.

    Don’t let random people on the Internet make you feel that your time is being spent frivolously. 6 days is a lot, but you have 3 weeks! Lucky duck!!

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31. Your trip sounds so fun!!!!! I hope you have a great time! I’m not sure if you’re at all interested in the Japanese watch company Seiko, but since being founded in 1881 by Kintaro Hattori there’s definitely a lot of history to see, the first factory was built in the Ginza district, which I noticed you have written down.