2 Month Itinerary Plan Winter/Spring 2022

9 comments

1. 1. If you intend to do hiking during the winter months (particulary with regard to Kyotango or Hokkaido as far as your current plans are concerned), you would probably need some winter hiking gear. Note that Kyotango area can range between relatively mild and dumping metres of snow.
   2. Okinawa is worth visiting if you are looking at a subtropical, warmer region, WW 2 sites, culture that is historically different from mainland Japan.
   3. Glancing at your plans: skipping Nagoya might make sense (especially as you are not planning to treat it as a hub for Ise Grand Shrines, Kiso Valley, Inuyama etc.). 1 day for Fukuoka might be also a plenty and frankly I would schedule a long day trip to Nagasaki rather than visiting secondary points of interest in Fukuoka, which is also not arguably the most pleasant place in Japan until mid-March and Fuji Five Lakes area could use a day less. It may also make sense to make a sequence of: Kanazawa → Shirakawa-go → Takayama → Matsumoto → Lake Suwa → Fuji Five Lakes in March . Nikko seems also to be missing, which is strange considering the length of the stay in Kanto.
   4. Kyoto: Kawaramachi/Gion; Osaka: Dotonbori/Namba, though the city has two centres and arcades around Osaka/Umeda are pretty lively; Hiroshima: somewhere around Hondori; Fukuoka: around Tenjin; Sendai: Kokubuncho
   5. A list of local food would be very long indeed; Osaka and Hiroshima are famous for their styles of okonomiyaki; Takayama (Hida beef) and Kansai (Kobe beef) for certain types of beef; practically every single region of Japan has their own regional variation of ramen; certain fruits are typically associated with regions (eg. melon with Hokkaido, apples with Aomori). For seasonal food: February/March is crab season for Sea of Japan coast; oyster season for Seto Inland Sea area including Hiroshima and Miyajima, and fugu season for northern Kyushu/Shimoneseki region. Not too mention exclusive specialties like Rikuro cheesecake in Osaka.

2. 1. Actually you are not doing much that is seasonal anyway if you ask me, appart from sakura. If you want to include seasonal things, then you would have to add some events such as festival. You could also add place to see plum blossom in February.
   2. I have not been to Okinawa, so cannot tell, but for sure there is a million of places where you could stay between each of the point you listed.
   3. I think this is a question of preference and where you stop. Appart from Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, most of the time I would stay for 1-2 day in each city (more if you do day trip outside of the city) usually only one night at ryokan with meal included. I also prefer moving more often, but do a shorter distance between two city.
   4. I think the most important is for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, any other place I stayed, I tried to be close to the main train station as it was usually easier to manage with luggage and going to the next location. Still, if you are in Tokyo, unless you want to stay in bar pass last train, or be in the same neighborhood every night, it is not too hard to take a 20-30 minutes train back to your hotel about anywhere in Tokyo. Tokyo the popular area include Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa. For Kyoto, around Sanjo/Gion station would be my choice, but around Kyoto station can also work. Osaka close to Namba station, or Osaka/Umeda.
   5. Can do for food. Matsumoto, basashi (raw horse), sanzokuyaki (fried chicken), soba, Kyoto, my personal must is match desert like matcha parfait or anmitsu. Osaka, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, kushikatsu, Kinosaki onsen, crab, Hiroshima, Okonomiyaki, Miyajima, oyster, momiji manju, Fukuoka, hakata ramen, Motsu nabe, Mizutaki, Nagoya, hitsumabushi, miso nikomi udon, miso katsu, tebasaki, Kawaguchiko, hoto (udon), Sendai, gyutan, zunda mochi.

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   Day 2, save Kanda Myojin for Akihabara day

   Day 7, you can consider looking at Tokyo Tower from outside and go to Roppongi Hills Mori tower for the point of view, it have a view on Tokyo Tower and you can go on the roof. There is also an art museum.

   Day 10, It is often said that if you care about animal welfare, you should not go to animal cafe or place the animal are kept in cage, Japan does not have the best reputation for that. As many other days, this seems quite empty to my taste. You can easily find a couple of options of things to check in the area, for this days you can easily add Meiji Shrine, walk to Shibuya and Ebisu is not too far from there.

   Day 11, that will not give you much time in Matsumoto and keep in mind that ryokan with meal included require relatively early check-in, as you noted before 4pm. So The detour by Matsumoto would be better as a full day stop.

   The Takayama part seems to be pretty short stop in the whole area. I would personally consider 1 night in Matsumoto, 1 or 2 for Takayama, go to Shirakawa-go on the way to Kanazawa for 1-2 nights.

   Kyoto-Takayama can be done in less than 5 hours and does not need to take a bus. You can even do it in about 3h30 for close to 10 000 by train/shinkansen.

   Day 16, try to do Fusjimi Inari earlier in the day. Not sure how much tourist there is in February, but you usually want to avoid being there in the middle of the day.

   Day 27/28 Castle ruin is next to Ohori park, make no sense to do it on different days. Also Fukuoka city museum is a really good history museum, next to Fukuoka tower.

   Day 49, Not possible to do by bullet train. This is likely shinkansne to Mishima and bus from there. The cost seems pretty wrong too as Shinkansen to Mishima only will be like 8000.

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   In general, I think there is not that much each day. I would personally get more options, even if those are just options and you end up not doing it. I also feel that you are skipping from one main city to the other, leaving huge gap between, so all your future trip, you will likely pass by the same city while visiting what you missed inbetween.

3. Winter is a beautiful time of year to explore southern Japan. Dazaifu will be particularly stunning with the plum blossoms. As someone else suggested, you may consider doing Fukuoka in 2 days and checking out Nagasaki, which has extremely interesting Chinese and Dutch culture and architecture to check out, as well as one of the top 3 night views in Japan. Since Nagasaki was destroyed by the atomic bomb most of the buildings aren’t interesting, architecturally, with the exception of the Dutch and Chinese neighborhoods. Before I move on from Northern Kyushu entirely, I’d like to say my favorite local Fukuokan dish is Mizutaki, which is absolutely perfect for winter.

   Since you like animals, I’d wanted to point out there is a town easily accessible by train in Kagoshima where Siberian cranes migrate to every winter, Izumi. Izumi is also famous for it’s samurai village and Kagoshima was the last holdout of samurai culture. I have done a biking tour in Izumi that combined viewing the cranes with the samurai village and had a good experience, here is the link http://www.japanbiking.com/itineraries/izumi-crane-tour-1-day/.

   Unfortunately Shuri castle burned down recently so you have to strike it from your list. Naha can be seen pretty quickly with Shuri gone and I recommend you move most of your Okinawa itinerary to Ishigaki. You can search for the Iriomote mountain cat and book a kayak tour to see the jungle. For architecture, I recommend you stay overnight on Taketomi island. The structures on the island are quintessential Okinawa and the roads are made of shells. You can easily learn the island in a day by taking walks around. Very relaxing and you’ll intimately know a whole Okinawan island by the end of your stay!

4. I enjoyed Okinawa, think about going to Zamami Island. A beautiful Island and you can do Whale Watching there.

5. >Is there anything in my itinerary that people think might not be seasonal? I love doing outdoor stuff even in winter and I have a long jacket and underclothes that can help me keep warm (I do kind of get cold easily).

   If you want to do some seasonal things then consider going to Sapporo at the start of the trip. The Snow Festival is on in early Feb and it’s a great time to be there. There is also a lot in the surrounding areas. Other seasonal things to consider are plum blossoms in early March and cherry blossoms in early April.

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   >Are there any places I’m staying too long or too short based on how interesting the location is? (Besides Tokyo, I can remove days from there if necessary, but I have a lot I want to do there)

   Overall it looks pretty good. I do feel like you are covering a lot of distance, maybe a bit too much. I tend to prefer to spend a bit more time exploring towns/cities nearby each other. For example, there is a lot of interesting cities/towns near Takayama like Kanazawa, Nagano, Matsumoto, Shirakawago. But this is just my personal preference.

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   What are the best districts to stay at for nearby evening food/entertainment in each location? I know Shinjuku is one of the best in Tokyo and Susukino in Sapporo, but I can’t really find good information for other big cities.

   Generally, when staying outside a large city, staying near the main Station is most convenient. They usually have a bunch of restaurants around there as well. But for the places I’ve been I would suggest:

   * Tokyo – Shinjuku or Shibuya
   * Osaka – Dotonbori tends to be popular
   * Takayama – It’s a pretty small town so anywhere is fine as its all walkable
   * Sapporo – Susukino or Odori
   * Kyoto – The station is most convenient as its the hub to get around and explore. But its more lively around the downtown area (Kawaramachi) and you can also walk across to Gion etc. It’s around a 10 min bus ride between the downtown and station so either tends to be fine.
   * Nagoya/Fukuoka – I stayed near the main station and it was fine.

6. No real comment on your itinerary, just a note that I was there in September 2019 and it was definitely not fall yet – I don’t know what the temps would be in F(reedom units), but it was mid-30s C (the current PNW heatwave temps) the whole two weeks I was there, and there was no change in foliage. From what I understand, autumn changes are more October/November.

7. I think you have a great start to an amazing trip! My greatest suggestion would be to not spend so much time in Tokyo. You you truly enjoy outdoor stuff, spending 21 days totally in Tokyo doesn’t make sense. I would recommend taking 7 days from Tokyo at the end of you trip, and add more time to Hokkaido and/or Tohoku region.

   You could fly up to Sapporo before going to Sendai, then slowly make you way down to Sendai via Shinkansen, while making stops in Hakodate (highly recommended), Aomori, Morioka, then Sendai. You can then fly from Sendai back to Tokyo for about $50.

   Hakodate is a very intimate small port city with one of the most beloved nightscape views in all of Japan from atop Hakodateyama. Great food selections and yatai villages (food stall alleys).

   Aomori is a great place to explore apple farms, snowy landscapes, and the Nebuta museum.

   Morioka is another intimate small city with a lively night life and a lot of awesome surrounding mountain hikes to explore (like Iwateyama and Hachimantai area).

   Just a suggestion if you’re really wanting to explore some less-explored parts of the country. Hokkaido and Tohoku are beyond amazing.

8. I would spend less time in Tokyo and much more in Hokkaido, see the drift ice, go to all the winter festivals, go skiing etc.

9. I used to live in Okinawa, so I can give some advice about there. I think it is great that you are visiting and that it’s not totally overrated! I feel like many people skip out on it in favor of some of the larger cities. For Day 35, you have listed Churaumi Aquarium and the Okinawa Peace Park. These places are on OPPOSITE ends on the island and from reading that you don’t want to drive, you’ll be fully relying on buses which are few especially up by where the aquarium is. I would leave the aquarium on Day 35 and move the Peace Park to Day 34. Also, instead of or in tandem with Okinawa World, I would recommend Valley of Gangala. Valley of Gangala is an awesome jungle/cave tour and during the time of year you’ll be going it’ll be great! At the end of the tour, you actually end up inside Okinawa World, so if you really wanted to explore it, you can. The Peace Park and these other 2 places are in the same general area of the island so it’ll be easier to move about to them.

   Someone already mentioned it below, but Shuri did suffer an awful fire in 2019, but I believe you can still roam the castle grounds. I believe they reopened that part to the public sometime over the past year. I would also recommend exploring other areas of Naha such as Kokusai Dori that are in the same general vicinity. I hope this information was helpful!