Hello all, I have been looking forward to this trip for a few years, and my friends asked me a few months ago. I couldn’t say no! This is my first time going to Japan with my three other friends, and we are looking forward to this trip. I would love some advice on our upcoming trip. If there something is missing, please leave a comment! I will list some notes below.
* This is going to be my first international trip
* We are avid anime fans.
* In terms of shopping, we have a significant deviation. One of my friends will go as cheap as possible, and the other is more flexible.
* We count stuff like capsule hotels, sleeper trains, and maid cafes as an experience you can only find in Japan. If you have any tips regarding these things or anything similar to these, please shoot away!
* I’m aware the itinerary is missing Cherry Blossom viewing days. I will add that later as I finalize this itinerary. If you have any specific tips on where to view the Cherry Blossoms, please comment!
* We are not Japanese fluent and will be learning some basic Japanese phrases. (Or at least I will)
* I will be bringing my camera.
* We will be flying in from the United States.
* We are currently high school students.
* This trip will last 12 days, from **3/24-4/4**.
* We plan to do a Sleeper train from Osaka to Tokyo from 4/1-4/2.
**Day 1 – Tokyo 3/24: The plane should land around 9:10 pm, Haneda (Friday)**
Pick up JR Pass and SIM Cards (Will the JR office be open at this time?)
Head to the hotel.
**Day 2 – Tokyo 3/25 (Saturday)**
Sensoji Temple
*Find lunch somewhere*
Ueno Park – Explore the park, then take the train to Palace.
Imperial Palace
Skytree – Afternoon/night
Kototoi Bridge (Pictures of the sky tree and night lighting)
**Day 3 – More Tokyo 3/26 (Sunday)**
Tokyo Tower
RED° TOKYO TOWER – Technology/gaming stuff
Tsukiji Fish Market – Find Lunch here.
teamLab Planets Tokyo – This is a **MUST**
**Day 4 – Shinjuku/Shibuya City 3/27 (Monday)**
Take the Yamanote Line to Shinjuku
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in the morning.
Meiji Jingu
Miyashita Park – Shopping
Ramen for dinner – Ichiran Shibuya
Shibuya Crossing
Shibuya Sky – Hopefully, during sunset/night. More info here
*Free alternative to Shibuya Sky – Starbucks Coffee Shibuya Tsutaya*
**Day 5 – Straight to Nagoya 3/28 (Tuesday)**
Shinkansen to Nagoya
Nagoya Castle
Nagoya Science Museum
Head to the hotel.
**Day 6 – Kyoto 3/29 (Wednesday)**
Head to Kyoto Via Nagoya
Bamboo forest
Fushimi Inari Taisha Senbon Torii (Thousand Torii Gate)
Kiyomizu-dera – If we’re not tired, do this.
Stay at the Hotel in Kyoto
**Day 7 – (leave Kyoto, spend a day at Nara, and head to Osaka at night on 3/30, Thursday)**
Go to Nara (Are there any specific things you guys recommend?)
Nara (Spend ½ day or ⅓ day max)
To Osaka – spend the night there.
Spend an evening in Osaka – Head to the hotel afterward.
**Day 8 – Universal – Osaka 3/31 (Friday)**
Universal Studios
*Alternative Itinerary:*
Dotonbori District
Osaka Castle Park
Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine
Moccos Imazu (Ramen Restaurant)
**Day 9 – Himeji/Osaka – 4/1 (Saturday)**
Take Shinkansen to Himeji
Himeji Castle
Go back to Osaka, explore the rest of Osaka
Osu Shopping District (South of Museum)
**Take Sleeper train back to Tokyo.**
**A: Sleeper train**
**B: If A doesn’t work, we do a backup hotel**
**C: If B doesn’t work, we find a capsule hotel**
**D: If all else fails, we go to a nearby city for a hotel**
**Day 10 – Tokyo – 4/2 – Individual Exploration day (?) (Sunday)**
If we don’t do the sleeper train idea, we wake up earlier to return to Tokyo.
Shopping mall – Location TBD
Akihabara – The afternoon
Maid cafe – (Any recommendations?)
Akihabara Shopping – I will spend most of my day here.
**Day 11- Tokyo – 4/3 (Monday)**
Animate Ikebukuro flagship store (largest anime store in the world)
Free to do anything for the rest of the day. If we missed something, this could be our make-up day.
**Day 12 – Tokyo 4/4 (Tuesday)**
Cherry blossom viewing
Last-minute shopping
Head to Haneda airport for a 9:15 pm flight.
Luxury Flight (flight simulator, will go if we have time or are bored)
**Questions**:
1. Will the JR office be open at Haneda Airport at 9:10 pm, or will we have to return to the airport the next day to pick up our passes/SIM cards?
2. What are some specific SIM card vendors you recommend?
3. How Japanese heavy do I need to be to go about my daily life in Japan? Can I communicate in English if I don’t know how to say something in Japanese? (Like “Bathroom?” or “Cost?”)
4. After picking up a reserved seat ticket for the Shinkansen, do I insert my JR Pass ticket or the Seat Ticket? Or do I insert both?
5. Since I have yet to put much into Nara, what specific things do you recommend?
6. Is Shibuya Sky and Tokyo Skytree worth the cost? Also, can you see the Shibuya Crossing from Shibuya Sky?
7. What is the mask situation in Japan? I’ve heard about a mask mandate lift, but I’m unsure what the details are.
8. I will use Visit Japan Web to fast-track my immigration/arrival process. However, since I have not taken three vaccines, I must submit a 72-hour PCR test before my arrival. When the time comes, what document do I submit?
9. Since I’m flying with United initially, will I need to update United about my PCR test results, or do I do so on Visit Japan Web?
10. I know we didn’t put the Emperor’s Palace on there. The only reason why I didn’t put it up there is that. Apparently, we won’t be able to enter the palace grounds itself. Is there a way around this or not?
Thanks for the advice; I appreciate it!
5 comments
I am going to Japan next month so my advice is just on my own research and not actual experience.
Based on the most recent forecast full bloom in Tokyo will be March 25. So there might not be cherry blossom viewing on 4/4. Although you will be going to Ueno park and Shinjuku Gyoen so you will probably see cherry blossom in those area.
For Day 3. If it were me I would do Tsukiji market early in the morning, Team lab at 0900 or 1000 with tickets purchased beforehand. Then go to Tokyo tower area in the afternoon.
Day 4: Do yourselves a favour and skip Ichiran. It’s mediocre at best and I don’t understand why tourist would queue to eat there.
Day 5: you don’t need to stay overnight for these. If you leave Tokyo early, you’ll be able to get both these done and continue on to Kyoto in the evening. And although I really like Nagoya, it doesn’t offer that much that other cities don’t (aside from the new Ghibli Park), so most first time visitors just skip it.
Day 6: that’s a huge day. You’re essentially trying to fit 2-3 days of activities into one.
Day 9: Osu is in Nagoya, not Osaka. And sleeper trains are rare nowadays. [There’s only 1](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2356.html) that does the Osaka to Tokyo route and you must book early. An overnight bus is another option.
Day 11: if you want even more anime shopping, go to Nakano Broadway. It’s mainly older shows and vintage stuff.
Q1 You can pick up JR passes at any major JR station. Picking up the sim depends on who you actually buy it from. If you’re arriving that late, it might be better to have it mailed to your home address before you fly so you have one less thing to worry about.
Q3 Or just use Google translate. You can get by with incredibly little Japanese. But at the very least, I would learn the kanji for male and female; you don’t want to accidentally become a harem anime protagonist when visiting onsen.
Q7 Unless you want to stand out like a sore thumb, wear mask indoors and on public transport. Many people even wear masks outdoors even though it’s not mandatory.
Q8 Look at the pinned weekly Q&A thread of this sub. It has links to all the requirements.
Q10 Marry a royal. /Jk I’ve never been, but [apparently there are guided tours you can book. ](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3017.html)
One other suggestion. If you are able to fly into Tokyo and out of Osaka (or vice versa) you’ll save a half day worth of travel and you won’t need to buy a JR pass; it’ll be cheaper to get a one way Shinkansen ticket. 12 days is a bit tight so every hour counts.
When you “explore” Ueno Park are you going to any of the Museums? They have about 6 museums and a zoo. I believe they are all closed on Mondays.
I’m going to echo the recommendation for Ghibli Park if you guys are anime fans going to Nagoya
The words for toilet and cost are toire and nedan. There are a few convenient language apps available for learning the basics. Some people like Anki or Duolingo, I used Memrise. From what I’ve heard many native Japanese people know a lot of English vocab but struggle with sentences. If you use individual words and pronounce them with Japanese phonetics chances are they will be able to use the context of the situation to figure out what you’re asking. With about a month before your trip try and get at least the very basic travel phrases down.
“Animate Ikebukuro flagship store (largest anime store in the world)
^^ I was just there two days ago, for Friday night when it was full of (I think high school?) students in uniform getting out of classes and into the store to browse. This area also has the best Magic the Gathering (MTG) and Pokemon Card card collection stores in the Greater Tokyo area; it’s the district for this kind of collectible. There are often people playing tournaments in the stores (both of the stores I went into had this.) They are:
– Card Secret (for Pokemon)
– BIGMAGIC (for MTG)
Additionally, Naka-ikebukuro park nearby has a cute little owl on one side (and there is another owl, I believe, somewhere in the nearby metro spot that’s often used as a meeting spot for people.)
You might want to scan on Google Maps around the neighborhood, as the Animate store for me took < 1/2 hr, but I spent about 2 hours seeing the other stores and walking around and having dinner there, before heading back down to another part of Tokyo where I am staying…
“What is the mask situation in Japan? I’ve heard about a mask mandate lift, but I’m unsure what the details are.”
So, almost everyone wears a mask in Japan now. Before, it was still like 1/5 to 1/4+ of people in the winter. (Ditto with Hong Kong, but Japan has even more mask wearers IMO.)
Officially, outdoors right now, masks aren’t required, but around 95% of people still wear.
Indoors, I believe the Japanese government is lifting the indoor mask mandate in early April. (Or late March — somewhere around that time frame is what I was told.)
Point is — irrespective of when that mandate officially ends, expect the vast majority of people to wear masks.
And I’ll just say that to blend in and be respectful, you should plan on wearing them indoors as well. (Outdoors, if you are not close and around other people you can just pull your mask down or have it in your hand.)