I have more questions about a rough plan for over New Year 2023/2024. I know the timing is not ideal, but our flights are booked and I have a deadline when I have to be back to work so I can’t push it back any further. It’s two of us traveling, myself and 19yo daughter. She’s interested in anime, manga, seeing the cities, but she’s willing to humor my desire to see temples and gardens.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us so, while I am trying to keep costs down where I can, I will absolutely splurge when necessary. I know our rail travel dates don’t lend themselves to the best use of JR pass, but I am fine with that. I’ll run the numbers once itinerary is finalized and see if a 7-day or 14-day pass makes sense. Here’s the current outline:
**29 Dec:** Arrive NRT, overnight near airport (trying to economize a bit with this hotel choice, concerned about flight delays and possible late arrival compounded by jet lag as well)
**30 Dec – 1 Jan:** Ginza area hotel (points), sightseeing around Tokyo, realize many things will be closed.
I’m still trying to pin down what will be open the two days we’d have to visit things. Hoping Teamlab Planet is still open as I’d love to do that if possible. If Mori is open (everything I can find says it will be), then likely that and Tokyo City View. Read about Nakamise-dori Street having street shopping on 31st, this might be an option (unless there is a reason to avoid).
**1 Jan-6 Jan:** Osaka hotel (cash stay), sightseeing, with day trips
Hiroshima, Miyajima
Himeji, Okayama (?)
USJ (will check crowd calendar closer in, I’m assuming it’ll be bad the entire time we can visit)
TeamLab Botanical Garden
Nara
**6 Jan – 10 Jan:** Kyoto hotel (3 point nights, 1 cash night at ryokan), sightseeing around Kyoto , Nara if we haven’t gotten there yet
Fushimi Inari
Kinkakuji
Arashiyama
(Will carefully plan out activities so that we aren’t criss-crossing the city, for now these are just the highlights I’d like to make sure we see)
**10 Jan – 15 Jan:** Tokyo hotel (points), sightseeing, possibly day trip(s)
Ghibli Museum
TeamLab Borderless, if open by then
Kirby Cafe/Pokemon Cafe (if I can get a reservation for either/both)
Sumo tournament (begins Jan 14, will try for upper level seats)
(Frankly, I have a huge list of possibilities, will refine closer in. I’ll be sure to map out and keep activities clustered once I have the nights settled. The above are just some of our must-do if possible)
**15 Jan – 17 Jan:** Disney area hotel (cash stay), two park days, afternoon NRT flight 2/17
Overall, current thought is 2 nights Tokyo -> 5 nights Osaka -> 4 nights Kyoto -> 7 nights Tokyo
Here are my questions:
1. I keep looking longingly at Kanazawa, wanting to see Kenrokuen garden. Is this possible as part of a long-way-round trip to Osaka from Tokyo? I know we wouldn’t have time to see much, but for some reason that park just appeals to me.
2. Would it be better to overnight in Hiroshima or Miyajima rather than use Osaka as a base and doing them as a quick day trip? I’m wondering if we do this if we can do Himeji and/or Okayama enroute in one direction or the other.
3. If you had to choose one day trip from Tokyo to get a glimpse of something different from what we will be seeing, what would you suggest?
I am open to suggestions about changing up the flow of the trip, but I am somewhat at the mercy of award night availability for our Tokyo and Kyoto stays, some of which is already very limited. I really need to use those reward nights to keep the trip costs down, because cha-ching!! I knew this would be an expensive trip, but it’s going to be stretching my budget.
Thank you for any feedback or suggestions you can provide.
3 comments
hi!
I am just going to throw out some stuff based on the fact I was in Japan for some of the same time period you were.
Make sure where ever you are staying on 12/31 and 1/1 and breakfast options and I would make sure you have dinner on 12/31 and 1/1 figured out. Lots of places are closed or have very limited menus that need to be reserved ahead of time. (as an example the Hyatt Regency required reservations for Christmas meals and for New Years meals, outside of breakfast.)
Good things to do on 12/31 or 1/1 include Tokyo Skytree which doesn’t close for the holidays and a most temples and shrines are open. I did Team Lab Planets on 12/30 this past year. It was not that hard to get reservation, I want to say I did it about a month out and got my preferred time.
We did the Kirby Cafe on 1/2/23 and Pokemon Cafe on 12/25/22. There is a Pokemon Cafe in Osaka as well as in Tokyo. I’ve been to both. Osaka might be easier to book, or so I was told by my hotel who tried to help me book the Cafe. I got the reservation on my own. It was a challenge.
We didn’t try to get tickets for Ghibli. (either) We went to the Museum and 2018, and despite being Ghibli fans it was enough.
I think where you stay in Kansai partially depends on your plans. It seems like the only things you really want to do in Osaka are USJ and TeamLab. You might want to take a day for Kanazawa and stay elsewhere.
There were some closures during 2022-2023, 2023-2024 will not be that different:
[https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2276.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2276.html)
It should give you some ideas for planning your trip.
You could actually (assuming your points work for it) do
your days in Kyoto first from Tokyo
then go to Hiroshima
then go to Osaka
then go from Osaka to Kanazawa and then continue onwards to Tokyo
I just think otherwise you don’t really have anything you want to do in Osaka outside of USJ and going on 1/1 or 1/2 it will be very full.
For us, we spent the night of 1/1 at an onsen resort. My daughter and I don’t have tattoos and I really like onsen. It was just perfect, but it’s not for everyone.
We didn’t have time for it, but you could go to Ashikaga and go to a light up or Yomimuriland. We went to a different light up closer to Kansai.
Your points issues are probably coming from the fact that New Yeats is a popular time to travel for everyone, because school is out.
> Kanazawa
It’s possible as a day trip from Kyoto or Tokyo (or in-between these cities) especially if all you need is Kenrokuen garden and maybe a quick spin through either Higashi Chaya or the fish market. BUT it will require a long day, getting up early and arriving late. Before embarking on this please ensure that:
* This is a very snowy part of Japan, you are willing carry additional winter gear (such as winter boots) that is not required for the rest of your itinerary
* You are interested in seeing a snow-covered Kenrokuen garden
* Everyone is up for the early wakeup call and/or is okay with splitting up for the day, for example if your daughter stays in Tokyo to do anime stuff while you go to Kanazawa for the day
* You and your family have a positive mentality in the event of a weather disruption (for example: booking a last-minute room in Kanazawa, being stuck on a train for longer than you’d like). I am not being patronizing here, the last thing you want is for everyone to be fighting over how mom/wife is at “fault” for “forcing” everyone to go see a garden etc.
> Hiroshima / Miyajima from Osaka
I prefer it as a day trip, but I also really hate changing hotels just for one night and like staying near Shin-Osaka (where the Shinkansen leaves from). However, may I suggest shifting the “ryokan night” from Kyoto to Miyajima, this would:
* reduce backtracking by letting you do Himeji/Okayama on the way back, as you wanted
* Keep the number of hotel changes the same
* Avoid staying at a ryokan in Kyoto, which I would assume to be less value for money / more internationally touristified. Admittedly I am far from a ryokan connoisseur.
> Okayama
not sure about the attractiveness of Okayama / Korakuen in winter
> One day trip from Tokyo
Maybe Kawaguchiko for a lake and potentially views of Mt Fuji? Or Kamakura for the railway crossing in Slam Dunk as well as the sea.
We pretty much go every year to Japan during New Years, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the timing except for January 1. Your travel day on January 1 is perfect since that is when a lot of places are closed.
As you have mentioned, your dates may not be ideal to make the most of a JR pass but, at a minimum, your day trip to Hiroshima will probably make a 7-day pass worthwhile. Possibly get a 7-day pass from January 1 to January 7 if you don’t have any day trips planned for Kyoto and/or Tokyo between January 8 and January 14. Price it out as you mentioned once you have a more firm itinerary.
1) I haven’t been to Kanazawa, but I think with a 14-day JR pass, I would go. I personally would prefer that and cut back one day in Tokyo if needed.
2) If you can’t get a points stay in Osaka, then, yes, I would look to staying in Hiroshima or Miyajima. I did want to stay overnight in Miyajima for our last trip to be there late at night once most tourists were off the island, but one in our family didn’t want to be accosted by the deer in the evening and early morning. I would think that staying in Hiroshima would be cheaper than Miyajima since there would be more choices.