Hi! I’ve used JapanTravel back when I went on a trip with my mom to Japan in 2019. You guys are the best! So I’m here again, this time going on a trip with my boyfriend.
We are both frequent visitors of Japan, myself traveling there for the 4th time this upcoming trip. We don’t plan to min-max our trip, but to have one major destination per day and figure it out from there. I would love to gather your opinions on my itinerary, and offer any recommendations where applicable!
​
**Day 1 (Toyosu, Tokyo)**
* Arrive in the afternoon / charge 2 ICOCA cards used back in 2019 / pick up pocket WiFi
* Check in hotel in Toyosu
* Spend the night around our accommodation in Toyosu, maybe go to Tsukiji Fish Market/Ginza to grab food and shop
* Rest early
​
**Day 2 (Shinjuku/Ikebukuro, Tokyo)**
* Visit Ikebukuro Pokemon Center + other relevant anime stores within the Sunshine Alpa mall
* Stop by Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
* Grab food at Golden Gai or Omoide Yokocho and continue walking around
* Any other recommendations?
​
**Day 3 (DisneySea)**
* Spend most of the day at Tokyo DisneySea and end off with conbini food
* Is buying the premier pass worth it, in your opinion?
​
**Day 4 (Hakone)**
* Travel to Hakone via shinkansen
* Check in ryokan *Hakone Hoshi no Akari*
* I would ideally like to visit Odawara Castle or Owakudani and eat the hardboiled eggs, but unsure how to start or if I even have time before our dinner kaiseki. Any advice here is appreciated!
* Spend the night relaxing and recovering from all the walking
​
**Day 5 (DenDenTown/Dotonburi, Osaka)**
* Travel to Osaka via shinkansen
* Check in hotel in Utsubo Park
* Walk around DenDenTown
* Grab food in Dotonbori
* Visit Don Quijote (my favorite Donki of all)
* Is it worth it to buy the Osaka 1 or 2-day pass?
​
**Day 6 (Open to recommendations in Osaka)**
* I’ve visited Osaka Castle + Mint Bureau before, so I might bring my boyfriend here (who’s never been), but the rest of our day is open. I’m open to any recommendations this day!
​
**Day 7 (Shibuya, Tokyo)**
* Travel to Tokyo via shinkansen
* Check in hotel in Chiyoda City
* Visit a cat cafe
* Walk by Takeshita Street
* Visit Shibuya Sky + Shibuya Crossing
* Eat at Hiroo Onogi (requires reservation?)
​
**Day 8 (Open to recommendations in Tokyo)**
* 10am teamLab Borderless
* Book a high-tea at Four Seasons or Amon
* Any other recommendations?
* It also happens to be my birthday 🙂
​
**Day 9 (Akihabara/Asakusa, Tokyo)**
* I’m going to rent a kimono and walk around Asakusa
* Any other recommendations?
​
**Day 10 (Open to recommendations in Tokyo)**
* Also open to recommendations this day – it’s completely empty!
​
**Day 11**
* Travel to NRT
​
**Questions:**
* I’ve used NinjaWifi before and thought that it was great. I know E-Sims are now popular, is there a heavy preference between the two?
* Are the luggage services at the airport secure? Will they arrive quite shortly after sending them off or will I need to wait a day? Are hotel luggage services part of the same company? So if I wanted to ship it to Hakone the day I leave on the shinkansen, can I expect it to arrive in time?
* My trip breaks even only barely on the JR rail pass. Is it worth buying then?
* My boyfriend loves historical sightseeing and museums. I don’t have many of that on this list because I haven’t done much research, but I would happily take recommendations.
* I would love more shopping recommendations! I want to visit the vintage Chanel store in Tokyo which I’ll fit in somewhere in the itinerary, and I also want to return to buying B-Side Label stickers and homegoods from Loft. Previously, I shopped ALL of Osaka from Donki, Marui, OIOI, Tennoji Mio, HepFive, Hankyuu, Shinsaibashi street (the whole thing!)
* Is Meiji Jingu/Harajuku Shrine worth visiting if we are visiting the Asakusa Shrine?
* I would love to visit themed cafes, like the Kirby Cafe, but I’m afraid of long lines. Are there online reservations for foreigners?
* Any ramen recommendations?
3 comments
I’ve been to both Meiji Jingu and Asakusa (Senso-ji) Temple during my first trip. Both feels different for me. Meiji Jingu feels like a calm respite in the middle of the busiest city in the world. The walk to Meiji Jingu is surrounded by tall trees and it feels very calming and zen. Senso-ji Temple is busy, loud and crowded with Nakamise-dori leading to it. It’s a different experience cause part of the fun of Sensoji is trying out different street food along the path to temple and people sightsee as a lot of people will be decked in kimono. I’ll be visiting both again for my upcoming trip with my husband (his first time).
Theme cafe like Kirby or Pokemon cafe won’t have a long line cause it’s reservations only. But it’s not easy to get a reservation for it, Kirby opens 10th of every month online for the next entire month and Pokemon I think it opens 31 days prior to the specific day you want.
Premiere pass is for individual rides! So at Disney sea, I think just Toy Story and the soarin’ ride have it. Maybe journey to the center of the earth too. So you have to pay the fee per ride per person unfortunately.
Personally, if I were traveling with another adult during a weekday, I probably wouldn’t bother and would try to be strategic about rides. Id probably buy it with a kid or on the weekend for a ride i couldn’t go on otherwise. FYI, the soaring ride is pretty much always a 2 hour wait, everything else is around an hour or lower.
I think people focus more on nakamise dori than the actual sensoji temple lmao. I remember more of the food stalls like the bunny dango and the fried matcha mochi.
Also, besides osaka okonomiyaki, hiroshima okonomiyaki, there’s also a kantou version which is the monjayaki. There’s some restaurants in Asakusa that has it available. For example :
Tsurujirō
+81 3-5755-5888
https://g.co/kgs/F5mLh4
Regarding meiji jingu, it is peaceful in an otherwise busy country. I prefer to go elsewhere out of tokyo for calm and nature but it’s a good nearby alternative for when you need a short break from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle that is Tokyo.