Hi everyone,
My sister (24 F) and I (27 M) will be visiting Japan from Canada this coming May after Golden Week ends. It will both be our first times visiting Japan with limited Japanese language skills and were wondering if there are any itinerary tips, suggestions or recommendations that could be shared. We were hoping to be able to visit Japan for longer but with scheduling restrictions, 11 days are all we have. We are looking to cross off the big name tourist spots of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto with our interests being food, cultural and historical experiences. Neither of us are too crazy about shopping or anime. Below is an itinerary that I have planned so far. I have a lot of questions so any answers would be greatly appreciated!
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**Monday May 15**
Evening: Arrive at KIX Osaka Kansai Airport separately at 3:40PM and 7:30PM. I arrive earlier so I will pick up the ICOCA and Haruka package, activate e-sim (unless a pocket wifi would be better?) and take the Haruka together all the way to Kyoto that night. Check-in to the hotel close to Kyoto station and grab ramen nearby.
**Question of the Day:** Is visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha gates at night worth it or should we just go to sleep soon?
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**Tuesday May 16**
Morning: Subway down to Fushimi Inari Taisha. Grab a kimono rental in the area. Make our way up to Sanjunsangendo
Afternoon: Kiyomizu-dera, Gion Area (Yasaka Shrine, Sanneizaka Street) and Kaiseki Lunch.
Evening: Kyoto Imperial Palace Gardens before it closes and maybe a tea ceremony?
**Question of the Day:** Are there any affordable lunch kaiseki restaurants (4000 to 6000 yen/person) recommendations? Is this itinerary for the first day too much or doable?
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**Wednesday May 17**
Morning: Subway to the Arashiyama area. Bamboo Forest, Tenryu-ji and Monkey Park.
Afternoon: Lunch in the Arashiyama area and Otagi Nenbutsu-ji. Hongan-ji before it closes.
Evening: Switch hotels to a traditional house near Nijo Castle.
**Question of the Day:** Is there a good restaurant recommendation for lunch in the Arashiyama area or dinner near Nijo Castle?
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**Thursday May 18**
Morning: An activity near Nijo Castle? Maybe the castle itself.
Afternoon: Train down to Osaka. We will be staying near Bentencho station. Drop off luggage and visit Tennoji temple.
Evening: Head north to Namba and Dotonbori. Get a picture with the Glico Sign and Dotonbori River Cruise and drinks.
**Question of the Day:** Are there Dotonbori River Cruises with English speaking guides?
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**Friday May 19**
All day: Universal Studios Japan
**Question of the Day:** How worth is the fast pass if visiting on a weekday? Is it possible to hit all major rides without a fast pass if staying an entire day? How early should we arrive to the park entrance on a weekday since I heard they usually open the gates earlier than advertised?
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**Saturday May 20**
Morning: Train to Nara. Kofuku-ji and Nara Deer Park
Afternoon: Lunch in the area. Todai-ji, Isuien Garden and maybe Nara National Museum?
Evening: Train back to Osaka. Solaniwa Onsen near the hotel for relaxation
**Question of the Day:** Is there an affordable lunch recommendation restaurant that is nearby Nara Park?
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**Sunday May 21**
I have thought about visiting Himeji Castle for one of the days but perhaps it would be better to take it easy and do another day in Osaka?
Morning: Osaka Castle and Garden
Afternoon: Tenmangu
Evening: Rest and maybe visit a “can’t miss restaurant in Osaka”.
**Question of the Day:** Is there the one restaurant in Osaka that cannot be missed in your opinion?
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**Monday May 22**
Morning: Take a flight from Osaka Itami Airport to Tokyo Haneda Airport. Grab lunch at Haneda upon arrival.
Afternoon: Take the subway to Asakusa and drop off our luggage. Our hotel will be located right beside Senso-ji. Stroll around Senso-ji and Hoppy Street.
Evening: Tokyo Skytree before the sunset.
**Question of the Day:** Would you recommend the Tokyo Skytree Tembo Galleria ticket at a higher price? Can Mount Fuji be seen from either of the levels on a clear day?
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**Tuesday May 23**
All Day: Tokyo DisneySea
**Question of the Day:** Same questions as USJ. How worth is the fast pass if visiting on a weekday? Is it possible to hit all major rides without a fast pass if staying an entire day? How early should we arrive to the park entrance on a weekday since I heard they usually open the gates earlier than advertised?
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**Wednesday May 24**
Morning: Tokyo National Museum
Afternoon: Stroll through Ueno Park and visit Akihabara.
Evening: Kanda Myoujin Shrine if time permits.
**Question of the Day:** How many hours is recommended for the Tokyo National Museum? I don’t need to see everything they offer but is about 3 hours or less in the morning enough?
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**Thursday May 25**
Morning: Tokyo Metropolitan Building for the morning view and maybe Shinjuku Gyoen?
Afternoon: Walk down to Harajuku and Meiji Jingu Shrine.
Evening: Continue walking and reach Shibuya Crossing and say hi to Hachiko. Maybe Shibuya Sky?
**Question of the Day:** How busy does the Metropolitan Building get in the morning for the observatory? Is Shinjuku Gyoen a must when in the area? Would you recommend flipping this itinerary around and start the morning in Shibuya with Shibuya Sky instead of Tokyo Metropolitan Building? Is it worth the time and effort to do both on the same day?
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**Friday May 26**
Morning: Tokyo Imperial Palace (with guided tour?)
Afternoon: Tsukiji Market for snacks and a sushi lunch from nearby standing sushi restaurants
Evening: Tokyo Tower (I don’t think we would go up this because we already would have visited other observatories in Tokyo)
**Question of the Day:** Are there affordable lunch recommendations for sushi in the Tsukiji market area (doesn’t have to be in the market itself)?
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**Saturday May 27**
Fly back home in the morning
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How does this itinerary look overall? We are very excited for the upcoming trip and are open to suggestions! Please let me know in the comments with anything!
3 comments
>activate e-sim (unless a pocket wifi would be better?)
This will definitely depend on how many devices you have and what your plans are. If you and your sister are going to be inseparable, and/or you both have multiple devices (like phone, ipad, etc) I would suggest pocket wifi (if you’re trying to be budget conscious). If you’re only with your phone and you and your sister want to have independence, e-sims.
– Fushimi Inari can take hours, so depending on where you’re flying in from I’d say *no way*. On that note, your first day plans are a *lot* of walking and (especially if you’re coming from the U.S.) the jet lag is going to be incredibly harsh the first couple of days. Either way make sure you pack some really nice broken in (but not worn down) walking shoes.
– On May 22nd, I would suggest that you don’t grab lunch at Haneda. You’re in Tokyo, it will be very easy to find a place to eat, or even just grab food from a combini which I highly, highly suggest you do at least once.
I tend to hesitate to give restaurant recs and I would encourage more exploration when it comes to that specific notion. Th
hi!
Answer for day 1: As far as I know Fushimi Inari isn’t well lit up at night. There are a lot of steps and a lot of trees. To me, that sounds like a good way to fall and get hurt, but I’m older and worry about that a lot more. When I visited in June 2019, there were a ton of signs warning about monkeys and wild boars. I only saw the signs, but perhaps if you went at night it would up your chances of running into wild boars or monkeys, which I am not particularly keen on.
May 16th looks very full unless you only plan to do part of Fushimi Inari. I would also warn if you are renting geta to go with your kimono and have not worn them before, walking up the hill to go to Sanjusangendo (or Kiyomizudera) could be painful. Don’t hurt your feet early in your trip, you will regret it.
You seem to be doing a lot of hotel and room changes. One place the 15th and 16th, a new place the 17th and a 3rd the 18-22.
Be aware the 19-21 is the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. No one knows fore sure right now what restrictions will be in place, but I was in Japan in June 2019 during the G20 Summit and… all locker banks were closed. So when you switch between places to stay on the 17th and the 18th, unless your old place will hold luggage or your new place will let you leave your luggage there, you’re likely to have a problem.
Answer May 19th Question, read the recent trip reports of the people who went to USJ in January on a weekday. They sounded like they made it on many attractions, but had to do them all as single riders. May will be busier and you will be there during the G7 Summit. I don’t know if it is coincidence, but when I was in Japan for the G20, Disney Sea was considerably more crowded than the crowd calendar had predicted (and it was lated moved to a much more crowded day after I was already there) I should mention the G20 was in Osaka and I was in Tokyo and Tohoku all the days of the actual Summit, so it wasn’t like the Summit was being held in my location. In Japan, always go as early as you can for a theme park. If it opens early you want to either head over to NintedoWorld immediately if you can, or at least immediately get an entry ticket.
Answer May 22: I am sure if Mt. Fuji is visible you can see it from either deck. Heck, when it’s visible from Tokyo I’ve seen it from the Yurikamome line, various hotel rooms, and even the Tohoku shinkansen between Ueno and Omiya. I have no idea if it will be visible when you are there. Do try to get seats on the Mt. Fuji side of the aircraft when flying from Itami to Haneda if there is still daylight. I saw Mt. Fuji from Narita to Itami and Chubu to the Mainland US. It’s really fun seeing Mt. Fuji from a plane.
See my Answer for May 19th for May 23rd. Though I will say I think TDR does a slightly better job of loading rides to get more people on. We went 12/31 and only bought premier passes for Toy Story and Tower. We did no single rider lines, though my premier pass for Tower was just for me, as my tween and friend decided against it. We were a party of 3 total. We didn’t make it on Soaring, but went on Journey 2x. It was 12/31 and we were running very late and didn’t enter the park until 10ish. I think if you’re actually try to get to the park by 7:30 am, you might be able to get everything in without Premier Passes. I would definitely do Soaring First and then Toy Story, since those consistently had the longest lines while we were there and do in general except right now when there is a Tower special event. Tower and Journey stayed about 50-90 most of the day. Unlike US parks, where if the park closes at 9:00 pm you can get in line at 8:59 and still get on that ride, Japan doesn’t do that. They will close the queue based on how long they think it will take for people to ride the ride, so even though there was more than an hour until closing, the queue for Soaring was closed. We got in the queue for Journey but within 20 minutes of our entering that queue closed as well.
You can download both park’s apps and take a look at ride times in advance. Just be aware that until sometime in March it’s the special “Ultimate” Tower of Terror, where the ride cars don’t necessarily follow the expected storyline and the cars are somewhat randomized. This is quite popular and is a limited event. It’s inflating the Tower wait though compared to what it will be in May.
Partial Answer for Day 25: It sort of depends what you want to do in Harajuku and Shibuya. A lot of things won’t open there until 10 or later. So if you want to eat or shop, it’s better to go later in the day when things are open. I personally would’t walk down from Shinjuku, I would take the train to Harajuku. I really liked Shinjnku gyoen, I only went during sakura/momo season though.
Arashiyama Food Recs:
Saganoyu
Pizza Lugara
Cafe Cotorino
Yojiya Cafe
Kameyamaya
Are some that I enjoy. But there are many cafes and small restaurants all around the Main Street and some by JR Saga-Arashiyama station as well.