Hello! I did a previous itinerary post and wanted to post another update on the changes I have made. Me and my partner are traveling from late March to early April, aka 13 nights, and wanted to get some insight about this itinerary.
*About us*: My partner is into Gundam and is looking for either a PG or MG that lights up to take home with him. We are aware of the weight that it may hold and he is prepared (lol). In addition, he’d like to see the best Cherry Blossom spots that Japan has and maybe some Japanese knives. For me, I am looking to visit shrines for goshuin and eki stamps. I already have a goshuincho, but would like a good eki stamp book; particularly, ones that may have a box for the stamp, and to put notes on like the date, description, etc. We also are rhythm gamers and love anime so I hope these are decent/sufficient times.
*Questions*:
* Can I simply get an eki stamp book at Narita airport?
* Any good place for a good PG/MG Gundam?
* Do the listed shrines have goshuin? I know Fushimi Inari has 4 I think, so does Meiji Jingu has several too?
* Are these places listed sufficient for the 7-day JR Pass? Perhaps we can go to Kyoto again, Mt. Fuji, Uji, and other places perhaps during the Fall season? Are we missing out on these places during Cherry Blossom season?
* For Day 6, is it possible to do a trip from Minoh Park to Nanba Yashka Shrine?
* Any alternative itinerary for Day 7 perhaps? Not sure how long it takes to walk around Nishiki Market. Plus, what time would be the last Shinkansen departure from Kyoto station?
***Day 1 – Narita Airport to Kyoto***
* 2:10P – Arriving at Narita Airport
* 3-4P – Immigration, Snacks, Narita Airport Anime Store/bookstore, JR Pass, Pasmo/Suica, money exchange
* 5P – Train to Kyoto
JR Narita Express → Tokyo Station → Tokaido-Shinkansen → Kyoto Station; \~2.5 hr
* 8P – Arrive at Kyoto station
* 8:30-9:30P – Pick up dinner (?) and head to Kyoto accommodations (15min walk est.)
***Day 2 – Kobe / Himeji Castle***
* 7A – Head to Kyoto station for Kobe trip
* 10A – Himeji Castle (\~1.5 est.)
* 1P – Grab some Kobe beef in Kobe during lunch hours
* 4P – Dotonbori Sign + Dinner/Snacks (Okiomiyaki, Takoyaki, Round 1)
***Day 3 – Kyoto / Kinkaku-ji Pavilion + Nishiki + Kiyomizu Evening***
* 7A – Kinkaku-ji Pavilion (Golden Pavilion)
* 11A – Downtown Kyoto / Nishiki Market / Shigeharu Knife Shop
* 6P – Kiyomizu-dera Temple (goshuin might not be available this hour, will go back during the day in the future?)
* 7-8P – Dinner nearby
***Day 4 – Kyoto / Scenic Route + Shrines***
* 9:30A – Heian Shrine
* 10:30A – Keage Incline
* 12:30P – Nanzenji temple
* 2P – Lunch towards → Philosopher’s Path
* 4P – Philosopher’s path
* 6P – Gion
***Day 5 – Nara / Tennoji Area***
* 6A(?) – Leave early for Nara train
* 8A – Kintetsu-Nara Station + snacks at Famimart, Lawson or 711 OR brunch
* 11A – Kofuku-ji Gojunoto (Five-Story Pagoda) / Todai-ji Daibutsu / Nara-koen Park
* 4P – Umikido Gazebo (?)
* 5P – Nakatanidou Yomogi Mochi + Dinner
* 7P – Nara Station back to Kyoto
***Day 6 – Minoh + Osaka / Katsuo-ji + Minoh + Nanba Yasaka + Dotonbori***
* 8A – Katsuo-ji Temple
* 10A – Minoh Park / Waterfall
* 11A\~1P – Lunch/Snacks along the way
* 3\~4P – Nanba Yasaka Shrine (Is it possible to make it before closing?)
* 6P – Dotonbori Sign + Dinner/Snacks + Round 1NOTE: This can be rotated. Dotonbori Sign/Osaka first then Katsuoji/Minoh.
***Day 7 – Kyoto / Fushimi Inari Shrine + Nishiki Market + Tokyo***
* 7A – Hike up Fushimi Inari Shrine
* 1:30P – Downtown Kyoto / Nishiki Market or go to Higashi Hongan-ji Temple then walk/shop Kyoto station
* 7P(?) – Head back to Tokyo & check-in our hotel in Ueno (What time would be the last departure from Kyoto?
***Day 8 – Tokyo / Ameyoko + Shibuya + Akihabara***
* 8A – Ameyoko Shopping Street + Brunch/Lunch
* 2P – Shibuya / Yoyogi Park for goshuin, Meiji Jingu
* 5P – Shibuya dinner + shopping
***Day 9 – Tokyo / Chuo City + Odaiba + Akihabara***
* 9A – Tsukiji Market (open early till 14:00hrs)
* 1P – Odaiba (Unicorn Gundam, round 1, shopping)
* 4P – Akihabara (shop)
* 7P – Dinner / Kanda Myoujin Shrine in the evening?
***Day 10 – Tokyo / Jindaiji + Gotokuji + Shibuya***
* 8A – Jindaiji Temple + Snacks
* 11A – Lunch
* 2P – Gotokuji Temple
* 6P – Dinner + Shibuya Crossing + Shopping
***Day 11 – Tokyo / Asakusa + Tokyo Skytree Shopping + Ueno***
* 8A – Asakusa (Sensoji Temple, Asakusa Jinja, Suzukien Matcha lvl 1-7, Kirby Cafe Take-Out, Doguri Republic Ghibli Store)
* 2P – Ueno Park + Ueno Toshogu Shrine
* 6P – Dinner somewhere
***Day 12 – Tokyo / Meiji Jingu Temple + Nakano Broadway + Ikebukuro***
* 9A – Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
* 12P – Lunch
* 2-6P – Nakano Broadway
* 6-9P – Ikebukuro (one piece, gacha, mega pokemon)
***Day 13 – Ueno Park(?) + Akihabara***
* Ueno Park morning stroll?, Go somewhere early morning we missing out on?
* Akihabara + Kanda Myoujin Shrine goshuinNOTE: 1-5P streets are open to walk
Thank you for reading this long post! 🙂
1 comment
Can I simply get an eki stamp book at Narita airport? I would not count on that. I personally just get a bland moleskine notebook. Even going to a proper bookstore or stationary store, it’s not sure you would even find a specialised notebook for commemorative stamps.
Any good place for a good PG/MG Gundam? Do not know that this stand for, like figure or gunpla, then Akihabara or Nakano.
Do the listed shrines have goshuin? If you want to know if they have it, you could usually find samples image if you search for the temple/shrine name in Japanese with 御朱印 and you would get sample images. First image you find for Meji-jingu 明治神宮 is [this](https://jinja-gosyuin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/meijijingu-goshuin-head-min.jpg) and it is easy to recognize the shrine name in the middle.
Are these places listed sufficient for the 7-day JR Pass? For the 7 first days it’s good, you can save a bit of money.
For Day 6, is it possible to do a trip from Minoh Park to Nanba Yashka Shrine? That seems fine and you want to end the day in Dotonbori, that is for sure.
Any alternative itinerary for Day 7 perhaps? Not sure how long it takes to walk around Nishiki Market. Plus, what time would be the last Shinkansen departure from Kyoto station? That is fine and use [Japantravel by navitime](https://japantravel.navitime.com/en/area/jp/route/) to figure out last train, use the JR Pass filter. You might also not take the last option, you would not want to get to Tokyo after the end of check-in time for your hotel.
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As you do not need the IC card before you reach Kansai, I would suggest to get the Kansai One Pass at Kyoto station instead. It is an Icoca card (work the same as a Pasmo/Suica) but it get extra discount for attractions in Kansai. For example 20% rebate at Himeji castle. Despite the name, it is not a pass, it’s just an IC card and it also work in Tokyo.
Day 3, you should have time to reach Kiyomizu-dera before 6pm if you get to Nishiki market for lunch. If you return to get the goshuin later, you would have to pay for the entrance twice, so not really good idea.
Yes Kintetsu Nara station is closer to the park, but using JR would be free. So you have to decide if the extra 1km to walk is worth the 640 yen it would use Kintetsu (so total 2 km for 1240 yen)
Why Meiji-jingu on day 8 and 12 ? Once should be enough. Also quite inefective to do Ueno and Akihabara on several days. Like Ueno is next to Ameyoko, so those would work well together. Also no reason to do Kanda-Myojin twice.