Hello everyone! My wife and I are visiting Japan for the first time in April. We will be arriving in Tokyo on the 3rd, where we will spend the first portion of our trip before heading to Kyoto on the 10th and staying there through the 14th, after which we will return home. As the trip is approaching rapidly, we have assembled a rough draft of our itinerary for our time in Tokyo, and would love to hear from more experienced Japan travelers about how things look.
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##April 3rd (Monday)
* Arrive at Haneda – 1:45 PM JST
* Travel to hotel in Shinjuku, check-in
* Walk around area outside of hotel and get our bearings
* Ideas for things to do: Tokyo Metropolitan Government building for cool views, could also go to Shinjuku Central Park nearby afterwards
* Return to hotel for a bit, go the Family Mart/7-11
* Head over to Omoide Yokocho/Golden Gai for dinner, walking around, pictures
##April 4th (Tuesday): Harajuku/Shinjuku Day
* Meiji Jingu shrine (opens at sunrise, inner garden opens at 9:00 AM, museum opens at 10:00 AM)
* Wander along Takeshita street, shop, get some crepes and good treats
* Omotesando
* Walk around Yoyogi park, see cherry blossoms
* Peanuts Cafe Sunny Side Kitchen (reservation possible, not sure if required)
* Explore
* Meal: Menchirashi or somewhere else nearby
* Tokyo Metropolitan government building (if didn’t do that yesterday)
##April 5th (Wednesday): DisneySea
* Tokyo DisneySea Day (restaurant ideas: Magellan’s, Ristorante di Canaletto)
##April 6th (Thursday): Asakusa/Akihabara Day
* Senso-ji Temple (opens at 6:00 AM), want to get there early but not so early that all the cool street shops are closed
* Shopping at Nishi Sando shopping street
* Head over to Akihabara; hopefully get reservations for the Final Fantasy Café
* Super Potato, wandering around anime shops, arcades
* More afternoon ideas: Tokyo National Museum (closes at 5:00 PM), Imperial Palace East Gardens (closes at 5:00 PM), Art Aquarium (closes at 7:00 PM but kinda far)
##April 7th (Friday): Day Trip Day
* Either visting Ashikaga Flower Park or going on a Mt. Fuji tour via Klook.
##April 8th (Saturday): Shibuya Day + Miscellaneous
* Get some breakfast and coffee at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery (opens at 7:00 AM)
* Hachiko statue, find Shibuya Crossing (in front of Shibuya Station Hachiko exit) April 8 is Hachiko Day! There is an annual memorial service at the statue (not sure what time or frankly what that entails)
* Nintendo Store (opens at 10:00 AM, should probably get there right then)
* Shop at Shibuya Loft (opens at 11:00 AM)
* Pepper Parlor (robot restaurant with waffles) or somewhere else nearby
* Shopping at the Pokemon Center (6th floor of Shibuya Parco)
* Possibly Art Aquarium? (closes at 7:00 PM)
##April 9th (Sunday): Miscellaneous
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (opens 9:00 AM, greenhouse opens 9:30 AM)
* teamLab Planets (1:30 PM reservation)
* Free time to do anything else we didn’t get to do or want to repeat
***
Thanks!
4 comments
>April 3rd (Monday)
Where are you arriving from? This is an incredibly important question because if you’re coming from the U.S. I’m gonna go ahead and suggest you severely cut down on your first day activities. The time difference will have you wrecked and you’ll need a recovery day when you land.
>April 4th (Tuesday)
Meiji Jingu is basically *in* Yoyogi Park (as in it is adjacent to and can be accessed from the park), and while Takeshita St *is* right there also, doing Meiji Jingu and then Takeshita St and then exploring Omotesandō means you’ll be back tracking to Yoyogi Park. I would suggest just doing Yoyogi Park as part of your Meiji Jingu visit.
>hopefully get reservations for the Final Fantasy Café
If you can’t, don’t sweat it. The food is sub par but the experience is still fun. There’s also a walk up window where you can get bubble tea (at least there was in 2018).
>April 8 is Hachiko Day! There is an annual memorial service at the statue (not sure what time or frankly what that entails)
Dang! I’ll be in Tokyo the same time as you all but I’m leaving on the 7th. I *am* visiting [Hachiko’s grave](https://goo.gl/maps/RxqsKN2ZBa8t9VuA6) to leave some treats and pay my respects, though. Over near Tokyo Bay in Chuo this is also a statue for [Chiori the Therapy Dog](https://goo.gl/maps/jy5rYxfD6TWiBCsC6), a lesser visited but very important dog for Japan. If you’re into visiting dog statues, I mean (I am).
>Nintendo Store (opens at 10:00 AM, should probably get there right then)
>Shopping at the Pokemon Center (6th floor of Shibuya Parco)
Get to them very early, they will (likely) give you passes to revisit later in the day. You might get lucky and not have a big wait though.
The Tokyo National Museum is huge, and excellent, and you could spend a day there. If you’re interested in Japanese culture I’d suggest not treating it as an afterthought.
Most people find Takeshita street to be unpleasant – it’s very crowded. You can’t really wander along it due to the crowds.
Ueno park is super fun during cherry blossom season!
– There isn’t really a lot of actual food in Golden Gai/Omoide Yokocho, it’s mostly just bars. I’d recommend looking for something else for your first dinner then heading there to drink if you aren’t too jet lagged.
– The cherry blossoms will likely be gone by the time you’re here as peak is March 20th and they only last about a week or so depending on the weather.