Any advice is welcome! This is our first visit. We have tattoos so have left off onsen from the trip. We plan to get a JR pass.
Specific Qs:
– do you think the Yakushima trip is too much? Desperately want to visit but it’s a lot of travel to get there for 1 day.
– Any thoughts on the day trip options from Tokyo?
Itinerary:
TOKYO
Arrive Tokyo, HND 3/28, afternoon – 28,29,30,31 in Tokyo – Stay in Shinjuku?
– 1 day trip from Tokyo (probably the 30th) Aokigahara National Forest/ Fuji lakes — bike around lake Yamanaka. OR Nikko
2.5 days in Tokyo:
– Go karting / shibuya crossing
– Nintendo world/Harry Potter?
– Robot restaurant?
– Team lab planet
– Ghibli museum?
– explore Harajuku
– Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
– arcades and explore Akihabara
– Kaiseki
– Memory lane
– Nakameguro
– see Gundam
– Gotokuji temple
– Mohri garden pond
– Golden gai
– eat good food
KYOTO
Morning Apr 1 travel Tokyo to Kyoto — Apr 1,2,3,4 in Kyoto — Stay in gion or Southern Higashiyama
3.5 days in Kyoto:
– Miyako odori
– Nishiki market
– Arashiyama – Otagi nenbutsu-ji – Sagano Bamboo forest (Kodai-ji or Tenjuan in Nanzen-ji instead)
– Philosopher’s path – Nanzen-ji Temple
– Fushimi Inari
– general exploration — cherry blossoms/shrines/food/matcha — Temple Illuminations
OSAKA
Evening Apr 4 travel to Osaka – Stay with friend
1 night in Osaka: Food, drag show, explore city
YAKUSHIMA
Morning Apr 5 fly from Osaka to Kagoshima — arrive 9:30 am, then Kagoshima to yakushima – toppy ferry – 2.5 hrs – arrive 3 pm
Apr 5 afternoon to Apr 6 afternoon- yakushima — 24 hrs — hike in the forest, rent bikes, explore the island
Afternoon (1 pm) Apr 6 – ferry to Kagoshima, arrive 3:30 pm — Dinner Kagoshima before flight
Evening Apr 6 — flight Kagoshima to Tokyo
TOKYO
Night of 6th/day of 7th — Tokyo — anything we didn’t do, evening flight back home