Going on this trip with two other guys who are close friends all approaching 30 years old. It’ll be my second time in Japan, and their first.
We do want some decent free time to explore each area rather than have everything planned out, though not sure if we have too much/too little of that.
**Main Questions/Concerns**
1. Does anyone have any experience with visiting Mito from Tokyo? We’re thinking we want to see some nice plum blossoms since we’ll likely miss the cherry blossoms, and Mito seems like a good place for that, albeit a bit far and unsure what else to do around there other than visiting Kairakuen.
2. Mt Takao has a fire walking festival on March 12th, but is Mt Takao in March worth the trip? Seems like it’s pretty much a whole day thing with how far it is, and am unsure how it would look in March.
3. I’m making an extra solo roundtrip from Osaka to Chiba due to getting an expo and concert ticket after booking the airbnb (terrible planning, I know). For the other two people a 14 day JR pass does not pay for itself and a 7 day one is a day too short to cover the full Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka-Tokyo travel days, but for me a 7 day pass can save 4,000-7,000-ish yen even though I can’t use it for the first Tokyo-Kyoto ride. My question is how big of a convenience difference is it between the JR pass shinkansen and the other shinkansen? Would it be better for me to eat an extra 4K-7K yen in train costs, and then we as a group are free from having to go with JR trains? Money isn’t a huge concern, but I do want to make sure we would get something out of it.
4. One idea we got from some videos was exploring the area around the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan. We don’t want to stay the night there, but we do want to see it, and the surrounding area looks like it has some really cool off the beaten path nature-y parts and shrines. However it is very out of the way so I’m not sure if it’s worth it and not sure where to fit it if it is.
5. Suggestions for the best day to fit in the Tsukiji Outer Market? And the best time of day for it?
6. This is probably a long shot, but has anyone ever been to the Omihachiman Sagicho Fire Festival? It’s a 2 day festival where on the 2nd day they light all the floats on fire. I’m wondering if going on the 1st day is worth it. I wouldn’t be able to make day 2 due to the expo and concert, but if day 2 is that much better then that’s when the others will go.
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Itinerary:
**TOKYO, airbnb in Ueno**
**Tuesday March 7**
Plane lands 2:30pm
Take Skyliner from Narita Airport to Ueno \~50 mins
Self check in starting 3PM airbnb in Ueno
Free evening, check out the Ueno area
**Wednesday March 8**
Asakusa \~26 min walk from airbnb or 20 min bus
* Sensoji Temple
Akihabara
Sumida
* Tokyo Skytree – want to find dinner with a great high up view
Maybe Ginza at night?
**Thursday March 9**
Meiji Shrine \~50 min train from airbnb
Harajuku
* Takeshita St.
* Cat Street
Shibuya
* Shibuya Crossing
* Shibuya Sky
**Friday March 10**
Odaiba ?
* Tokyo Bay
* Gundam Statue
Roppongi ?
* Azabujuban ?
Minato
* Tokyo Tower
* 寿毛平 – Soba Noodle Restaurant
* Rei Ichimi – Gyoza Restaurant
**Saturday March 11**
Yokohama \~50 min train from airbnb
* Gundam Dock Exhibit and Cafe
* Cup Noodle Museum ?
* Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse
Shinjuku
* Teppanyaki Cuisine & Okonomiyaki restaurant
* Golden Gai nightlife
**Sunday March 12**
*Maybe* Mt Takao
\* Fire Walking Festival March 12th only
**Monday March 13**
*Probably* Mito (\~1h53m from Tokyo airbnb)
* Kairakuen to see plum blossoms
Not sure what else to do in this area
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**KYOTO**
**Tuesday March 14**
Tokyo to Kyoto Shinkasen \~3 hours
self check in at airbnb starts 4pm
free evening in Kyoto
**Wednesday March 15**
Kiyomizu-dera
Fushimi Inari
Kawaramachi and Gion
**Thursday March 16**
Arashiyama
* Bamboo forest and monkey park
Kinkaku-ji
Nishiki Market ?
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**OSAKA**
**Friday March 17**
free morning in Kyoto
Kyoto airbnb to Osaka airbnb \~1h10m train
self check in at airbnb start 3pm
Walk through and eat at Dontonbori
**Saturday March 18**
Osaka castle
Train from Osaka to Omihachiman \~1h45m train
* Omihachiman Sagicho Fire Festival
**Sunday March 19**
One of us goes to Chiba for an expo and concert (probably leave night before)
Other two visit Nara
**Monday March 20**
Solo person comes back to Osaka
Free day
**Tuesday March 21**
Himeji \~1h30m shinkansen from Osaka
* Shosha Temple
* Himeji Castle
Kobe \~50min shinkansen from Himeji
\~40 min shinkansen back to osaka
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**Tokyo**
**Wednesday March 22**
\~3h50m shinkansen and trains to Tokyo
Self check in airbnb in Katsushika starts 3PM
* Free cancellation by 3PM march 17th, and can book another airbnb if we want specific location for the final day
Free evening go back to what we liked
**Thursday March**
Free morning
Airbnb checkout by 11am
\~45 mins Skyliner to Narita airport
Flight leaves 4pm
3 comments
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Hey there, sounds like you have a great trip planned! For your main questions:
1. I haven’t been to Mito myself, but it looks like a great place to see plum blossoms and Kairakuen is definitely worth a visit.
2. Mt Takao in March could be worth the trip – it’s still quite cold at that time of year so you won’t get the full effect of the fire walking festival, but I’m sure you’d still enjoy it.
3. The JR pass shinkansen is more convenient than other lines, as you don’t need to reserve seats or pay extra for certain sections of track. However, if money isn’t a huge concern then it might not be worth getting just for one roundtrip journey.
4. Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan looks like an amazing place to explore! It’s a bit out of the way so make sure you plan enough time in your itinerary to fit it in – perhaps after Arashiyama?
5. Tsukiji Outer Market is best visited early in the morning before all the seafood has been sold – this will give you plenty of time to explore and sample some delicious food too!
6. Omihachiman Sagicho Fire Festival sounds incredible – unfortunately I haven’t been there myself so can’t offer much advice on that one!
Good luck with your travels and
Also going to Mito for the plum blossom. I was looking to go on the 11, the main reason is that the train stop at Kairakuen station, that is a temporary station where the train only stop the weekend during plum blossom season. There is a history museum next to the garden. There is some art museum one close to the lake and one where Mito art tower is. I personally want to check the Mito castle ruin as I am collecting the top 100 castle stamps. Went to Mito before, but that year the plum blossom was late, I went the first weekend of March when there was the Miss Mito posing in Kimono in the park… and it was just starting to bloom, there was barely a couple of trees in flower.
Also going to Mount Takao the 12. Why would it not be worth the trip if you want to do a hike and possibly see Mount Fuji, that seems to be a good option. It’s actually a popular day trip from Tokyo.
You are going to Hololive Super Expo? I did not win the lottery and tickets where sold out in 2 minutes (and it just crashed for me). I only wanted to go to the expo… but yeah, won’t go.
Using the JR Pass you are limited to use the Hikari between Tokyo and Kansai, it would be faster to use the Nozomi. Personally would get the pass if you are to save money, but people in your group have to be ok with taking a slightly slower train. And having a pass does not force you to take JR, just use whatever make most sense around kansai.
Nishiyama Onsen make no sense. Guess you watched Joey video right? It’s way too out of the way to be worth going, especially if not staying for a night. Do they even offer day use of their onsen? Ther is other not as remotes places that can still offer nature and onsen but be much easier to access.
Tsukiji market in the morning, would work before Odaiba as you can then take the Yurikamome to Odaiba.
Skytree, I do not think they have restaurant in the tower. There is plenty of skyscrapers with restaurants on the top floors, usually they are a bit on the higher price. There is probably some in the buildings around Skytree, I know there is some in the Asahi building next to Senso-ji. Also kind of does not make sense to go to Skytree after Akihabara (when you would have been closer to in when in Asakusa)… but yeah, if the idea is just to eat in on the top floor of a skyscraper, then there could be options closer to Asakusa/Tokyo/Ginza.
The 14 try to be in Kyoto for lunch and go eat at Nishiki market, make more sense to go then at the end of the 16. Or do it morning of the 17.
If you take the time to go to Mito, you might as well go all the way to Oarai. It is about 15 minutes from Mito by train.
Oarai
https://www.oarai-info.jp/page/dir000476.html
Oarai, Ibaraki: Home of Girls und Panzer
https://infinitemirai.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/oarai-ibaraki-home-of-girls-und-panzer/