Hello All!
My sister and I (F) will be traveling to Japan this April for our first time after our first trip was cancelled back in 2019 due to COVID. We are both really excited to go however we need some advice and recommendations on our itinerary as we are torn on a few things. We are hoping to see some Sakura however as it can be unpredictable we aren’t going to be upset if we miss it as Japan is a dream location for both us and we are just happy to be there.
Primarily we are there to see the sites and take a lot of photos as we are both semi-professional photographers who are primarily are looking for photography opportunities. We are also both really into video games, anime, and Japanese fashion in general. We are planning on doing alot of shopping which will become apparent through the Itinerary. We also have a friend in Tokyo that will be storing our purchases until we come back through Tokyo which is why is why are opting to shop the first part of the trip.
No day is set in stone as if we have the opportunity to see sakura in Tokyo there are days we might move around to get good photos, unless its day we reserved something.
Below is the Itinerary and while I have some notes on each day here are the days I’m really looking for some recommendations on the below questions:
1. Does anyone have any more information on the Nintendo World Store in Shibuya Parco? I know previously you needed to line early for a ticket for entry otherwise you would need to lineup which could take up to 2hrs+ which is why we opting to move this to day we come back to Tokyo rather than our Shibuya day so if we have to wait in line we can afford to wait. Has this gotten better or changed at all?
2. What is the general opinion of Harajuku? I’ve read that it’s gotten very touristy and not really worth the visit anymore is it still worth visiting or should we drop altogether?
3. For Day 5 Odaiba + Ginza how viable is this day? I’ve seen some people group something similar together but it seems like a lot of train hopping.
4. If it’s too early for Sakura in Ueno is there any recommendations for alternative activities in Ueno?
5. For Day 9 is there any alternative activities to the Monkey Park in Arashiyama? We probably need to fill our afternoon a little bit on that day so we can get our night photography kick.
6. For Day 10 I’ve seen people recommend Kinkaku-ji on the same day as Fushimi Inari is this actually viable? If not what are some good alternatives?
7. Day 13 is what I need the most advice on we both want to walk Philosopher’s Path early in the morning at 6AM so we figured we could make a day of it however looking around the area most of the sites to visit are temples and shrines. Looking at what we have so far I’m afraid of temple fatigue would there be any alternative activities you could recommend instead of the shrines and temples we have listed? Or are these 100% you need to see these? We have considered maybe walking just the Philosopher’s path early in the morning before we go back to Tokyo so that we could open up this day to either another daytrip in Kyoto (**Himeji**?) or give us another day in Tokyo for another daytrip (**Fujikawaguchiko? or Mt. Takao?)** probably not **Kamakura** however because of said temple fatigue. Any advice or recommendations you can give us on this day would be very helpful.
8. Day 15 our flight isn’t until 5pm. Is there any recommendations on activities we can do before our flight that we haven’t done yet?
9. And overall any recommendations on what isn’t viable and what is helpful 😛 We are still working on trimming stuff down and dimming our expectations on some things.
Itinerary:
**Day 1- Arrive in Narita**
* Arrive at Narita at 3PM
* Pickup SIM Card (ETC.)
* Checkin into Hotel at Shinjuku
* Dinner in Shinjuku
* Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observation Deck
**Want to keep this day light due to fatigue maybe will move something from Day 2 depending on how we feel.**
**Day 2- Ikebukuro + Shinjuku**
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden 9AM (Morning)
* Sunshine City
* Animate Ikebukuro
* Sega Ikebukuro GiGO arcade
* Lunch in Ikebukuro
* Omoide Yokocho
* Artnia Square Enix Cafe
* Dinner at Shinjuku
* Shinjuku Golden Gai at night
**Trying trim some stuff off this day…**
**Day 3 – Shibuya + Harajuku**
* Yoyogi Park (Morning)
* Meiji Shrine (Morning)
* Takeshita St
* Marion Crepes
* Lunch in Harajuku
* Tokyu Plaza Omotesando
* Explore Shibuya
* Shibuya Shopping (Shibuya 109, etc.)
* Shibuya Skytree (Sunset 6PM-7PMish?)
* Shibuya Scramble Crosswalk – from Magnet 109 rooftop (600 yen)
* Dinner in Shibuya
**Need to trim some stuff. Knowing us we could probably spend the entire day in Shibuya for Shopping. We have considered dropping Harajuku all together as I’ve read on here and elsewhere that Harajuku is very touristy now and not worth the visit?**
**Day 4 – Akihabara + Meguro**
* Akihabara Radio Kaikan
* Super Potato
* Mandrake
* Gamers
* Don Quijote Akihabara
* Lunch: Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe – Need to reserve one month out
* Evening Meguro River Walk
* Dinner at Meguro
**Meguro really depends on the Sakura if it’s not ready may move around and we have the option to do this when we come back through Tokyo. If we didn’t go to Meguro are there any cool evening/night photo places near** **Akihabara?**
**Day 5 – Odaiba + Ginza**
* Teamlabs Planets Opens at 10AM
* Gundam Base
* **L**unch: Pokemon Café Need to reserve one month out
* Pokemon Center TOKYO DX
* Chidorigafuchi
* Imperial Palace East Gardens
* Dinner in Ginza?
* Evening may go over to Tokyo Tower to get some night photos depends on time
**Concerned about public transport on this day….**
**Day 6 – Asakusa + Ueno**
* Sensō-ji
* Kaminari Gate
* Asakusa Shrine
* Hikan Inari-jinja Shrine
* Nakimase Shopping Street
* Lunch in Asakusa
* Ueno Onshi Park
* Mihashi Ueno Main Store
* Dinner in Ueno
**Would like to do Senso-ji early but need to space out time for Nakimase Shopping Street to open based on that Ueno may or may not possible. Looking for an Alternative idea for the afternoon and evening.**
**Day 7 – Tokyo to Kyoto | Downtown Kyoto**
* Start 7 Day JR Pass Shinkansen to Kyoto
* Store luggage at Kyoto Station; Hotel checkin is at 3pm
* Lunch
* Nishiki Market
* Teramachi-dori -Daishodo, Etc.
* Dinner – Maybe somewhere in Pontocho Alley
**Transit day really getting some of the stuff we want out of way in Downtown which is mostly shopping…**
**Day 8 – Southern Higashiyama & Gion**
* Kiyomizu-dera – 6AM
* Sannenzaka St + Ninenzaka St
* Yasaka Pagoda
* Visit Starbucks with the Tatami Mats
* Lunch
* Ishibei Koji Lane
* Kodai-ji Temple
* Yasaka Shrine
* Dinner
* Evening Gion/Maruyama
**Would be willing for recommendations on how to trim this day down as this is a lot of walking time to be on our feet**
**Day 9 – Western Kyoto**
* Arashiyama Bamboo Grove arrive early
* Okochi-Sanso Villa
* Nonomiya Shrine
* Tenryu-ji Temple
* Lunch around Arashiyama
* Monkey Park Iwatayama
* Dinner in Arashiyama
* Evening night photography in Arashiyama
**Not really too sure about the Monkey Park but we were struggling to find some stuff to do in the afternoon to last us to the evening. There are some evening photography locations we are looking to get**
**Day 10 – Southern Kyoto + Kinkaku-ji**
* Fushimi Inari – Get here early to avoid crowds (Morning + Afternoon)
* Thousand Torii Gates
* Yotsutsuji Intersection
* Lunch
* Tofuku-ji Temple
* Kinkaku-ji (Maybe)
* Dinner
**This day is pretty packed some people on here stated that most people on here either add Uji or that Kinkaku-Ji for later in day it closes at 5:30PM so we would try our best.**
**Day 11 – Nara**
* Morning Train to Nara (1hr approx.)
* Kofuku-ji Temple
* Isuien Garden
* Toda-ji Temple
* Nara Park
* Kasuga-taisha
* Lunch in Nara
* Depending on timing either do evening in Nara + Dinner or go back to Kyoto
**Depends on how long we take to see everything here may do some evening wandering here or go back to Kyoto**
**Day 12 – Osaka**
* Morning train to Osaka
* Osaka Castle
* Umeda Sky Building
* Lunch
* Hozenji Temple + Hozenji-Yokocho
* Dotonbori
* Dinner in Osaka
**Day 13 – Path of Philosophy**
* Path of Philosophy get up early to avoid crowds
* Temple visits:
* Nanzen-ji Temple,
* Okazaki Shrine,
* Kumano-Nyakuoji Shrine,
* Reikan-ji Temple,
* Honen-in Temple,
* Ginkaku-ji Temple
* Lunch in between temple visits
* Dinner near here?
**This day we are really looking for recommendations on we both really want to do the Path of Philosophy early to avoid crowds but looking around the area it’s mostly temples and shrines but we are afraid of temple fatigue based on everything else we are planning to see. Is there any recommendations on if we could move the Path of Philosophy to another day to free up this day or would there be any more recommendations what we could do instead of all the temple visits? If we could free up this day I may have us go to Tokyo a day early for day trip like Fujikawaguchiko or Mt.Takao, I’d say Kamakura but again temple fatigue may be an issue.**
Day 14 – Kyoto Tokyo | Shibuya + Shimokitazawa
· Need to checkout of Hotel by 10AM
· Shinkansen to Tokyo JR PASS last Day
· Store luggage in luggage locker; Hotel in Shibuya checkin is at 1pm
· Shibuya Parco – Nintendo World Store Tickets start being sold at 11pm
· Lunch
· Shimokitazawa for thrift shopping
· Dinner in Shimokitazawa
· Last opportunity for any night photography we missed
**Need more information on the Nintendo Store. I know when it first opened up it was a very long line to get in if unless you could get tickets. Some blogs mentioned it has died down and the line isn’t that bad if you cant get a ticket, but other people have stated to having to wait almost 2hrs+ in line to get. Can anyone provide more information on this? We weren’t sure about how long it would take to get in here so we allocated it from our Shibuya day as we wanted to also go to Shimokitazawa but didn’t want to do a Shibuya/Harajuku/Shimokitazawa in one day.**
Day 15 – Final Day
· Morning – Last Minute activity in morning
· Checkout of Hotel by 10am
· Either head to airport early or grab a very early lunch before flight (AKA luggage lockers)
· Flight out of Narita is at 5pm
**Any recommendations on things we can do in the morning before our flight? We fly out at 5PM and even though I like to get there early + train to Narita we have some time to do something.**
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Sorry for the long read. Thank you again in advance!
