Hi all! My husband and I are traveling to Japan for the first time. I’m SO excited. I wanted some advice on our current itinerary and whether you have any additional recommendations based on our interests. Thank you in advance!
**Background:** Gay married couple from Los Angeles traveling with 2 other gay couples (6 people total) – we’ll be with them for the majority of the trip (until 5/5). While with the group, we’ll be a little more focused on budget (e.g. maybe only 1-2 dinners that are over \~13000 yen or $100 USD. Once they leave on May 5th, we’ll be less concerned with budget.
**Interests:**
\- Food (need to find a good curry katsu place)
\- Alcohol/bars/nightclubs
\- Sightseeing
\- Video games/Pokemon/Nintendo (I love Yoshi lol)
\- Side note, we decided to skip Disneyland and DisneySea
\- Would like to try to fit an onsen in here somewhere (tattoo friendly)
**Wed, 4/26 (Shinjuku):**
\- Land at HND; check into Airbnb in Shinjuku; get groceries (7-11, Lawson or Family Mart)
\- Evening: Dinner at Rokkasen; explore Golden Gai after
**Thu, 4/27 (Shinjuku):**
\- Morning: Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden & Hanazono Shrine
\- Lunch: Ichiran
\- Evening: Bar hopping tour in Shinjuku (includes food); after: explore Kabukicho & Omoide Yokocho
**Fri, 4/28 (Shibuya, Harajuku):**
\- Morning: Meiji Shrine & Takeshita Street
\- Lunch: Tonkatsu Maisen Shibuya Hikarie
\- After Lunch: Explore Shibuya (Hachiko Statue, Shibuya Crossing, Shibuya Parco for Disney & Pokemon, make reservations for Pokemon Cafe
\- Evening: Shibuya Scramble Sky; dinner at Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten Shibuya
**Sat, 4/29 (Sumida in the evening):**
\- Lunch: Kurand Sake Market
\- After Lunch: Kirby Cafe; sunset at Tokyo Skytree
\- Evening: Dinner TBD
**Sun, 4/30 (Asasuka, maybe Akihabara, Minato City):**
\- Lunch at Gyukatsu Motomura Shinjuku
\- After Lunch: Senso-ji Temple; then maybe check out Akihabara?
\- Evening: Tokyo Tower; dinner at Yakiniku Ushimatsu
**Mon, 5/1 (Mitaka, Ginza):**
\- Morning: Ghibli Museum
\- Afternoon: Ginza (Fujiya Candy Shop, Manneken for waffles, Uniqlo, Muji)
**Tue, 5/2 (Odaiba):**
\- Morning: teamLab Planets
\- Lunch: Tanaka Shoten
\- After Lunch: Unicorn Gundam Statue, Odaiba Statue of Liberty, Seaside Park, Rainbow Bridge
\- Evening: Dinner near Airbnb (Tokyo Nikushabuya for sukiyaki/shabu)
**Wed, 5/3 (Osaka):**
\- Check out of Airbnb, go to Osaka, check into hotel in Umeda
\- Dinner at Okonomiyaki Chitose
**Thu, 5/4 (Osaka):**
\- Nintendo World
**Fri, 5/5 (Osaka):**
\- Friends depart
\- Morning: Osaka Castle
\- Lunch: Sushi Sanshin (omakase)
\- Dinner: Either Tonkatsu Manger or do a food/drink tour; explore Dotonburi after
**Sat, 5/6 (Kyoto, Nara):**
\- In the interest of time, I think we’re going to do a 1 day bus tour to see Kyoto (Kinkaku-ji, Arashiyama, Fushimi Inari Taisha) & Nara Park
**Sun, 5/7:**
\- Go back to Tokyo; maybe stay at Park Hyatt Tokyo
\- Dinner: Sushi Tou (omakase)
**Mon, 5/8:**
\- Flight back home in the afternoon
3 comments
Just a heads up – the first week of May is Golden Week (National Holiday) in Japan, and there’ll be lots of people travelling prettyyy much everywhere, and tourist spots will be busier than usual too. The busiest days are 3rd May with lots of people leaving big cities, travelling back on the Sunday. It’s not impossible to travel Japan during Golden Week, but you might struggle to get a reservation on the Shinkansen to Osaka, and I’d make sure any plans/accom etc. are booked well in advance too.
On Friday 5/5 it’s Japan children’s day and there are a lot of carp streamers :). There is also a huge aquarium in Osaka called Kaiyukan (near the universal studios). There are so many bars but a few unique ones include Muscle Girl Bar and the Robot Resturant. If you guys have any interest at all in Omakase, there’s many in Tokyo (I use Tabelog to find reviews from locals). I guess my last point is be safe and search for common tourist scams. The most prominent one is the spiked drinks/nigh club ones in Roppongi and Kabukicho to name a few
The Pokemon Cafe is not in Shibuya. It’s on the other side of Tokyo in Nihombashi near Tokyo Station. You can get between the two, but make sure to give yourself enough time cause it’s a good 20-30 minutes from Shibuya.
There is also a Pokemon Cafe in Shinsaibashi in Osaka. I’ve heard it is easier to get a reservation there and since you are going to Osaka and a party of 6, it might be worth doing.
I have been to both Tokyo (2 or 3x) and Osaka (went 12/25/22) The menu is the same in both and don’t go in with high food expectations, the food looks adorable but it’s really only so good, especially for the price. There are a bunch of items that are only available as pre-orders (mostly coasters) and some merch you can pick up after you eat (plush, clearfile, silverware) and then the merch in the actual stores. My tween is a huge Pokemon fan.
If you can’t get a reservation at either there is Pokemon Sweets in Ikebukuro which sells Pokemon drinks and snacks and doesn’t require a reservation. It is not the same experience, but is much more accessible because it doesn’t require reservations.
The Kirby Cafe is also really hard to get a reservation for, especially for a party of 6. You might need to be flexible on time of day. We went there on 1/2/23.
Expect USJ to be super crowded since I believe the 4th is still part of Golden Week. I would think of it the same way as going to Disneyland in CA on Memorial Day in terms of crowds. Make sure you get Express Passes ahead of time if you are trying to get into NintendoWorld and want to ride either ride.