Hello,
My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Japan for our 10 year anniversary, in March 2024. We would like some advice on our 1st draft itinerary.
We do not like trips where everything is planned by the minute and we prefer to have a general idea of the areas we want to visit so we can be flexible and change our plans if needed. We also prefer slow-paced itineraries and we didn’t want to squeeze too much, considering we only have 9 days in Japan (10 total if you count our travel day). We’ll visit the Kansai region another time.
Out main interests: Food, temples, shopping, video games, anime and nature.
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**DAY 1** \- Overnight flight from Canada.
**DAY 2** \- Arrival at Narita late afternoon. Transfer to hotel in Asakusa via Keisei Limited Express train.
**DAY 3** \- Asakusa / Akihabara (Senso-ji, Nakmise Street, Hoppy Street, Tokyo Skytree, Arcades in Akihabara)
**DAY 4** \- Transfer to Hakone via the Romance car (Hakone Shrine, Cedar Avenue, Pirate Ship, Ropeway to Owakudani, Open Air Museum, relax in Onsen a ryokan). We’ll probably grab the Hakone Free Pass for the day.
**DAY 5** \- We’ll visit anything we missed in Hakone during the morning (or enjoy more osen-time) and then transfer to Enoshima (Enoshima Island, Enoshima Aquarium).
**DAY 6** \- Full day in Kamakura ( Hasedera, Kotoku-in, Hokokuji, Komachi Dori Street, Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, Engaku-ji). Return to Tokyo in the evening.
**DAY 7** \- Shibuya – Harajuku (Meiji Shrine, Harajuku Takeshita-dōri, Cat Street, Coffee break and people-watching in Shibuya, Shopping at Pokemon Center, shopping at Don Quijote, Loft and Uniqlo).
**DAY 8** \- Team Labs Bordeless (I am assuming it will be reopened by then). We also want to squeeze a cooking class for dinner.
**DAY 9** \- Ghibli Museum, Shinjuku (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, drinks in Golden Gai and Karaoke).
**DAY 10** \- Last minute shopping and eating ramen and then transfer to Narita int he afternoon for our flight back to Canada.
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A few questions:
1. I understand that an IC card would cover all of our transportation during this trip, correct?
2. If the weather is nice, we’ll probably rent some bikes in Kamakura. Any recommendations for a bike rental shop?
3. Is the Shinagawa a good base to visit Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku? It is a little cheaper than staying directly in those areas from what I could find on [Booking](https://Booking.com).com. Otherwise, we’ll probably go back to Asakusa or Uneo.
4. Any recommendations for restaurants and foods that we should not miss during our trip?
5. If we go to Japan mid-March, are there any chances to see greenery and flowers blooming? Sakura season was not our objective for this trip, but it would be nice if we can see some 🙂
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Any advice is appreciated! Thanks! 🙂
