Will try to keep it short and focus on things that might help other people. Some things that I figured out as we went:
Don’t get your train tickets issued immediately if you booked them with a JR pass. Once you do that you can’t change it without going to an attendant. Just tell them you don’t want them issued yet when you pick up your pass, and change as needed on your own.
Google translate works great when you have a question you need answered, just type in whatever you want to say and show them the translation. Worked well for us.
Expect to need additional time walking above the Google Maps prediction, I found it often didn’t account for the time walking within the station which can sometimes be lengthy.
Definitely forward your luggage if you plan on doing a stopover for a day somewhere. I arranged it with my hotel and it was super easy, they just billed it to my room. Plan to send it a couple days before you want it to show up, at least if it’s from Kansai region to Tokyo (Noon two days before the day you want it to arrive).
Wifi card worked great (I used https://www.japan-wireless.com/en), but make sure you check if your phone/plan has wifi calling/texting enabled. Then you can keep calling and texting your friends and family back home as usual through wifi. Otherwise I’d probably just get an international plan through my provider. I had the wifi sent to my hotel, didn’t want to deal with picking it up at the airport post office (if you’re late it might close, and there can often be a line).
They did zero checking at immigration/customs for duty free stuff leaving, and interestingly the places I did it at didn’t even add it to my passport book like they had in the past. So don’t worry about packing your duty free stuff into your carry-on perhaps (like I did).
There was a significant line at security leaving Haneda, took about 30-45 minutes around 6:40 PM on a Sunday.
Most places take credit card now, but there are some cash holdouts.
Not sure if it was just me, but it seemed like places like Donki had less tourist geared souvenirs than they did in the past. Wouldn’t surprise me given the lack of int’l tourists in the last couple years.
Day 1 (1/3): Landed at NRT, took train to Osaka and checked in at hotel. Long day, would not recommend.
Day 2: Took it easy and went to Himeji. Castle was beautiful, took advantage of the free tour and it was great (our guide, Masahiro, could not have been happier to take us around). Garden nearby was pretty dead, just the evergreen trees were showing colors. Not unexpected for the winter. Had a delicious A5 Kobe beef skewer right out in front of the Himeji bridge gate for 2200 yen.
Day 3: Did typical Kyoto Arashiyama/Kinkaku-Ji/Nishiki tour before heading back. Was still pretty busy at all locations. Also went to Shinsekai when we got back to Osaka, but it was already pretty dead and closed when we got there around 9:15 PM? Maybe more crowded on the weekends, not sure.
Day 4: Universal Osaka, got there later than we wanted but had express pass. The lines at this park are crazy. For someone who goes to a lot of theme parks, I’d say it’s worth riding Flying Dino and both Hollywood Dream versions, in case you were thinking of cutting them. Mario world gets super crowded late in the day, I’d try to get in earlier. No timed entry was needed for Harry Potter.
Day 5: Kyoto again, Fushimi Inari-Taisha and Kiyomizu Dera. Also crowded, and smelled like incense the whole day after getting stuck in a cloud of it. Definitely leave time to walk the streets outside Kiyomizu-Dera after or before, it’s the most aesthetically pleasing alleyways in the world IMO. Got to Gion around 6 but streets seemed dead, which was expected given the temps. Went to see Dotonbori, was completely packed on a Saturday night. Went to a cheap and easy chicken izakaya chain for dinner.
Day 6: Sent bags to Tokyo while taking train to Hakone. Arrived in Hakone late, and didn’t start trying to take the circular tour until 2 PM-ish. Thought I was being smart going clockwise instead of the typical counter-clockwise, but found ourselves running to make the ropeway up by the 4:15 PM close time. At Owakudani they say last tram 4:15 but they keep it open until everyone is cleared out. Stayed at Hakone Airu and got the dinner/breakfast, food was ok but the balcony onsen was amazing, with a view of the mountain and the Cablecar going past.
Day 7: Train to Tokyo, walked around our hotel in Roppongi until check-in then went to Shibuya and Shinjuku to gawk and shop. Went up to the Metropolitan Gov’t Building at night, last elevator up is at 9:30 PM. Great view but windows/lighting was not conducive to pictures if you care. Swung back to see Kabuchiko, touts are still out there in full force and harassing single women (Saw same in Dotonbori).
Day 8: TeamLab Planets (worth doing, be advised you’ll have to walk around in water and with bare feet), Senso-Ji, Tokyo Skytree (now that Odaiba is a ghost of itself, probably one of the better typical American-type malls in the area?) Kirby restaurant there but need reservations in advance.
Day 9: Tokyo Disney Sea. I had been before so we took it easy, lines were still long even for a random Tuesday, but manageable. Found the merchandise to be lacking compared to the American parks, everything was branded as “Tokyo Disney Resort” as opposed to individual parks.
Day 10: Harajuku/Meiji Jingu/Dinner at Sushisho Masa, which I booked through Pocket Concierge. I had been to Meiji Jingu in the past and was on the fence about going but decided my wife should see it, and it was still worth it to get away from the city hustle after so long and just be in green nature (and hear some birds again).
Day 11: Tokyo Disneyland in morning (Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast is amazing), Pokemon Cafe in late afternoon (not as amazing). Had some delicious chicken ramen for dinner.
Day 12: Got some Shabu on a rainy day for lunch then watched sumo, got tickets through buysumotickets.com. Service surcharge was about 2000 yen per ticket and a 500 yen shipping surcharge (Sent to my hotel). Was a lot of fun to watch.
Day 13: Walked around having last meals, late flight out cause we got delayed. Dragged our 3 luggage, 2 backpacks, and 2 duffel bags onto the subway to Haneda, didn’t have a problem (but I did have to stand with it in the corner next to the doors). In case you have money left on your IC card, there are vending machines past security you can burn them on (and the duty free shop took them too I think).
Let me know if you have any other questions!
