March/April 2022 – Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka Itinerary (2nd Draft)

10 comments

1. In terms of food, I discovered and fell in love with [roast beef bowl](https://www.favy-jp.com/topics/705.amp) in my last few trips to Japan.

   Otherwise, when in Osaka, you should also try the local crab… there were tons of restaurants clustered around the tourist areas (pre-covid at least).

2. Day 9 seems a bit crowded. Fushimi inari — nishiki market are pretty far away. Id recommend nishiki market day 8 after kinkaku ji.

3. If your first draft was a train-wreck, this is probably a fender-bender!

   I still think you’re cramming too much in a day to enjoy the trip ***but*** if you’re the type to just do a “hit-and-run” and top tourist spots you’ll definitely cover them off, with early starts and late-nights every day to maximize your day.

   I’ll try and breakdown some of the days…

   >Day 2 – Yoyogi Park/Meiji Jingu/Harajuku/Omoide Yokocho/Kabukicho/Dinner/Golden Gai
   >
   >Day 3 – SkyTree/Sensoji/Nakamise/Ameyayokocho/Akihabara/Dinner
   >
   >Day 4 – Imperial Palace Tour/Tsukiji Fish Market/TeamLab Borderless/Dinner/Odaiba Park to view Rainbow Bridge

   These 3 days are going to be a full day affair… Those are some really nice spots to just walk around and soak the atmosphere in. Harajuku, SkyTree itself, heck even Akihabara. There’s plenty of places to just stumble upon and get sucked in. Cafes, small specialty shops, izakayas and what not. After a whole day of walking you’ll probably want a spot where you can sit down and just people watch

   ​

   >Day 5 – Bus Tour to Hakone/Dinner at Gauo Meguro/Meguro River Cherry Blossoms

   Maybe I’ll KIV the Hakone bus tour and spend the day around Nakameguro/Daikanyama/Shibuya instead.

   >Day 6 – Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum/Ghibli Museum/Dinner at Katsumidori Seibu

   Not too familiar with these two but I think your tickets to Ghibili Museum will dictate how you handle the day. Both are *relatively* close to each other

   >Day 7 – Explore Tokyo Station/Zojoji/Tokyo Tower/Mega Don Quijote/Tokyu Hands/Dinner at Nabezo

   Personally you’re probably better off exploring the Nihombashi/Ginza area then Tokyo Station. It’s parallel to the station and you can head down to Tokyo Tower/Zojoji right after

   >Day 8 – Shinkansen to Kyoto/Kinkaku-Ji/Check into Hotel around Gion/Dinner around Pontocho

   Try and take an early train.. At least you can maximize your day in Kyoto and around Kinkaku-ji. If you’re up for it and time permits you can do Ryoan-ji and Ninna-ji.

   >Day 9 – Fushimi Inari/Nishiki Market/Kodaiji/Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka/Kiyomizudera/Dinner at Ramen Sen no Kaze

   Again another long day. Do you have any specifics for Fushimi Inari? Walk to the top where there’s less people? Stay at the main entrance? You can definitely just visit the area bright and early (technically it’s always open).. get some shots and shoot off to Nishiki close to lunch time and work your way south to Kiyomizudera et al via Higashiyama/Yasaka Shrine…

   (Also realizing the walk to Kiyomizudera crosses Kamo River… which is quite a nice place to take a stroll in the late evening!)

   >Day 10 – Arashiyama Bamboo Grove/Tenryuji/Torokko Train/Kameoka/Hozugawa Riverboat/Iwatayama Monkey Park/Dinner
   >
   >Day 11 – Ginkakuji/Tetsugaku no Michi/Nanzenji/Maruyama Park/Yakasa Shrine/Gion/Samurai & Ninja Museum/Free Time/Dinner
   >
   >Day 12 – Ship Luggage?/Train to Nara/Naramachi Koshino ie/Nakatanidou/Kofukuji/Todaiji/Kasuga-Taisha/Train to Osaka/Hotel Around Namba
   >
   >Day 13 – Osaka Castle/Umeda Sky Building/Dotonbori/Tombori River Cruise/Dinner/Ebisu Ferris Wheel
   >
   >Day 14 – Shitennoji/Shinsekai/Kuromon Market/Namba Centergai Shotengai/Dotonbori/Kyocera Dome Osaka

   These days doesn’t feel that bad anymore. There are lockers at Nara Station to store luggage if you want. If the large lockers are full you can store them at Tourist Information Centre at both JR Nara and Kintetsu Nara stations (at least pre-Covid).

   ***For the luggage mailing service, Can I mail my luggage from Tokyo and pick them up in my hotel in Kyoto or is that not possible?***

   You can.. Check with your hotel if they can do it and what’s the “delivery” schedule. Usually it’s next day. Otherwise most convenience store can help you to do it. Your hotel can help you with it too.

   ***My partner wants to stay at a capsule hotel for one night. Any recommendations on how I could work that in and which capsule hotel?***

   The night before you head to Kyoto could be a good option since there should be a lot of options around Tokyo Station. You can easily squeeze one night there and have an easy start to get to Kyoto via the Shinkansen.

4. I would swap days 5 and 7. With Day 7 as Hakone, you can spend the night there. Perfect opportunity for a night on a ryoken. And that way you don’t backtrack from Hakone to Tokyo only to turn around a day later and pass that way again going to Osaka.

5. ​

   1. Do you think this schedule will work? Without going in detail, does seems to make sense.
   2. I think TeamLab is closed later on weekends, is it better to go on weekend for that extra hour or would there be a lot more people and make it better to go on weekdays? I think that people recommend to go early, like when it open if possible, so does not matter it you have one hour less in the week. Actually, as you said, there is likely more people who want to go during the weekend, so I would choose early in week day.
   3. Is Tokyo Station worth investing time to explore or should I spend my time in something else? Depend on your interest, but I think there is more interesting things to see in Tokyo. Yes if you are into architecture and want to see the old station and there is some shopping options that can be interesting.
   4. For the luggage mailing service, Can I mail my luggage from Tokyo and pick them up in my hotel in Kyoto or is that not possible? Yes, possible. it may not be there same day, so just prepare accordingly. It’s a fairly common service, you can even check with your hotel if they can help with the process.
   5. My partner wants to stay at a capsule hotel for one night. Any recommendations on how I could work that in and which capsule hotel? Here is an idea. The day you check out of your hotel in Tokyo, ship your luggage to Kyoto but keep one change of cloth with you (worst case keep the bag in a coin locker if you do not want to carry it). Go to the capsule hotel that night in Tokyo. As for recommendation, I would say that it might be a bit more positive experience if you go to a place that is a bit more oriented for tourist.

6. In Kyoto, I recommend this “off the beaten track” restaurant:

   [http://www.yururi-fujishige.com/](http://www.yururi-fujishige.com/)

   Went there with a friend of mine, excellent food, friendly people.

   7-4 Tokiwaichinoicho, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto, 616-8216, Japan

   〒616-8216 京都府京都市右京区常盤一ノ井町7-4

7. That’s a lot better, but still probably a bit hyperactive.

   >Is Tokyo Station worth investing time to explore or should I spend my time in something else?

   Do something else. It’s just a big mall with the same shops that are all over Tokyo. Kyoto station has some very striking architecture if you want to check out an interesting station (though it is also a fairly big mall).

   Regarding the Tsukiji Fish Market, the fish market has been relocated and the area where it used to be isn’t that exciting – it’s a fairly standard Asian food market district. If you’ve lived in Hong Kong and are headed to Taipei, I wouldn’t bother with it.

8. You have a big list of things to do. There’s no reason to overplan each day. Decide in the morning where to start and go as things work out. The weather can easily change schedules.

9. Sorry I dont have any input specifically to your itinerary but in reading this, I feel like this is something Clark Griswold or Dwight Schrute from The Office would plan. This just seems more like a checklist than a vacation.

   My suggestion: land in HND, check in, listen, view, smell, get lost, eat when hungry, sleep when tired, meet new people, learn and appreciate. Repeat each day. Let the experience guide you instead of trying to stage it.

10. I like your day 3. I used to live in that area and it’s certainly doable in a day, although I suppose it depends on how much time you like to spend looking in random shops, because there will be a lot of them.

    For dinner that day you’ll have a ton of options, but to a fellow Ryu Ga Gotoku fan I’d like to suggest Sekai no Yamachan in Ameyoko:
    [https://www.yamachan.co.jp/english/index.php](https://www.yamachan.co.jp/english/index.php)
    [https://goo.gl/maps/ZXbwxHJmzTxdCa6K9](https://goo.gl/maps/ZXbwxHJmzTxdCa6K9)
    (There’s also a location south of Akihabara station, but I prefer the Ameyoko one because they have a non-smoking floor)

    You may recognize them from Yakuza 5. They have lots of interesting menu items, which can sometimes be hit or miss, but you really go there for the chicken wings and those are amazing, so even if you just stick with wings and beer it’ll be worth it imo. They have English touch screen menu ordering from your table so it’s very easy.

    Admittedly there are several other eateries in the area that have appeared in Ryu Ga Gotoku, but I just really like this one in particular!