Ohio, everyone – I’m first-time traveler taking a vacation on my own at the end of May into early June. The overall plan is to spend 5 days in the Tokyo/Fuji area, then finish with two days in Osaka.
Outside of your typical weeb interests (video games mostly, some anime, but not quite as fervently passionate about that), coffee and beer are hobbies of mine, and I want to visit some of the places I’ve only experienced secondhand.
My itinerary has some specific places I’d like to hit, but I’m also the sort of the person that’s perfectly happy to wander and explore for a bit – I’ve never done well sticking to a rigid schedule. If there’s anything here that appears unfeasible or could use some tweaking, I would appreciate the suggestions and/or recommendations of more experienced travelers. I’ve also appended some questions in need of clarification at the end. Many thanks!
**Day 1 (5/29)**
* Arriving late in the afternoon – not much done today except logistics stuff
* Pick up JR Pass, pocket Wifi, set up eSIM, maybe SUICA. I’ve seen a few posts saying it’s not bad to have a couple thousand yen on one just in case, even if you have a JR Pass. Open to thoughts on that.
* Check in, dinner in Shinjuku before passing out
**Day 2 (5/30)**
Daytime
* Shibuya – mostly shopping, sightseeing
* PARCO Mall – heard you should be at the Nintendo store early to get tickets in
* Scramble area – lunch, shopping
* Nakano Broadway
Evening
* Kabukicho (Golden Gai) for dinner & drinks
**Day 3 (5/31)**
Daytime
* Ueno
* Tokyo National Museum (spend most of the morning here)
* Asakusa Sky Tree
* Akihabara
Evening
* Dinner in Ginza, want to visit Cafe de L’ambre
**Day 4 (6/1)**
* Trip out to Mt. Fuji/Lake Kawaguchi. The idea is that this will likely be an all-day trip. Not doing any hiking, just checking out the lakes and the restaurants.
**Day 5 (6/2)**
Daytime
* Odaiba
* TeamLabs Planets – reserving tickets ahead of time
* Marunouchi – Osaka Castle and Jinbocho
Evening
* Roppongi – Tokyo Tower – Although I went to the Sky Tree earlier, I’ve heard Tokyo Tower at night is pretty neat. It’s on the way back to Shinjuku, so I figured, “Why not?”
**Day 6 (6/3)**
Morning
* Check out, travel to Osaka, check in
Afternoon
* Denden Town for shopping and lunch
Evening
* Dinner, shopping, sightseeing in Dotonbori and Umeda (I get the feeling I might be a bit gassed after a 3 hr train ride and might not get to do much, I’ll come back tomorrow as well)
**Day 7 (6/4)**
Daytime
* Osaka Castle
* Additional time in Dotonbori and Umeda
**Day 8 (6/5)**
Morning
* The plane out of here leaves pretty late in the afternoon, so I’ll spend a bit more time in Osaka before taking the shinkansen back to Narita, tie up any loose ends.
**Questions**
* Would anyone recommend visiting Fuji with a group? Personally, I’ve never been fond of tour groups and the schedules they adhere to. I don’t really care for having lunch or a shopping excursion cut shorter than I’d like. But if you’ve done this sort of thing before and didn’t find it troublesome, I’d like to hear your thoughts.
* I’d very much like to visit the Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro, but had some difficulty figuring out where to slot it in the schedule. Open to suggestions there.
* Has anyone ever had to ship purchases back to the states before? Would you suggest it over trying to make room in a suitcase?
Again, thank you for taking the time to review, respond, and share your expertise.
1 comment
I can’t comment on any of your itinerary but I would certainly try to fly back with your purchases rather than shipping. International shipping is expensive. If it’s like $50 to check another bag that you maybe picked up from a thrift shop there, that would be way cheaper than shipping. Or nest a suitcase or duffel inside another that you bring from home.