Hi all, I’m planning to visit Japan around the last 2 weeks of May and leading into the beginning of June in 2023. Would like some advice or general trips. I’ll be going with a group of 12 (including me) and it will be our first time in Japan. This is our rough first draft for the trip.
Dates are May 20th – June 4th
May 20: Arriving in Tokyo around 5 PM
May 21: Tokyo (Akihabara)
May 22: Tokyo (Asakusa)
May 23: Tokyo (Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya)
May 24: Tokyo (1/2 day) -> Hakone (1/2 day)
May 25: Hakone
May 26-28: Kyoto
May 29-31: Osaka + Nintendo World (Universal Studios Japan)
June 1: Nara or one more day in Osaka?
June 2-3: Back in Tokyo for shopping and possible daytrip to Yokohama (don’t know if it’s worth it)
June 4: Flying out of Tokyo in the morning
Main Questions:
1. Are these dates reasonable in terms of number of days per city? Are we cutting it close, or will we have extra time to do stuff like day trips from Tokyo or Osaka?
2. Pocket Wifi or Sim Cards for a group of 12?
3. Is it worth renting bikes to get around Tokyo for a day or is walking preferable?
4. Hotels or AirBnb/Private properties?
5. How are the luggage storage lockers at train stations? Are they like big enough to store huge suitcases?
6. How easily accessible are the veg food options in the above-mentioned cities? And do convenience stores carry veg food? In short, how rare or easy is it to find veg food overall?
7. Is it preferable to carry cash all the time or are credit/debit cards good enough for these cities? If we need cash, how much should we carry for the day?
2 comments
May 23: Hard to tell whether do you have enough time a not as you’re just listing areas. You can easily spend an entire day only at Shibuya and Harajuku area if you want depending on your interest.
June 1: Nara is well worth a visit and you can always go back to explore Osaka at night as Nara quiets down once approaches evening. Just make Osaka as your base and make a trip to Nara from there.
June 2 -3: Yokohama is so near to Tokyo, only 30 minutes by train. Just put it as your back-up plan if you have time.
For your questions:
1. It’s really hard to say when you did not share much info on your group interests and what kind of travellers you guys are. Some people can visit 5 – 6 locations in a day while some can only go 1 – 2 places depending on your interest.
2. Pocket Wifi might be cheaper for large group but go with sim card. It’s hard to travel together in large group like that in Japan, and most eateries cannot accomodate such a large group at a time unless you make prior reservation or you visit chain stores. Everyone having their own sim card makes it easier to split up to see different interest and to update each other in case there’s any delay for meet-up. Example: Shibuya has so many shopping malls, you cant possibly move together 12 of you in a group to every store that you guys want to browse.
3. Walk. Tokyo is a very bustling and busy city, and your itinerary is mainly visiting all the famous areas for first-timer visitors. You will struggle to find bicycle parking spots as well. The train station in Tokyo is excellent, use it to get around for places you cannot access by foot.
4. AirBnB for large group like yours if you guys want to spend time with each other at night. However, a lot of airBnb location might be more outskirt to house such a large group of yours. So up to your personal preference, but will save more if you go with airBnB.
5. There are a lot of luggage storage options usually at major train stations, and can easily fit large luggages. If your luggage is really too big, you can always store it with the personnel but will need to collect it by certain time as they are usually available till evening time. However, consider luggage shipping as you’re travelling in a large group.
Good luck finding a shop that will seat 12 people for a meal. Sometimes a group of 4 can be a problem!