14 day Tokyo itinerary June 2021 – UPDATE

13 comments

1. I would suggest just staying in 1 location. Its pretty easy to get around Tokyo so there isn’t a reason to change hotels. If you plan on doing lots of day trips outside Tokyo then Shinjuku is a good location.

2. (Assuming you really want to stay in two locations: Shinjuku and Ueno…) the Skytree area is closer to Ueno, and the Fujio M Fujiko Museum is closer to Shinjuku so you might want to switch those days. And don’t worry Google Maps will help you navigate!

   Otherwise, looks way better from last time. If moving your luggage is going to be a hassle, again, as people mention, it’s better to just stay in one hotel.

   However, I also understand if you want to stay in a different neighbourhood – Hotel Gracery Shinjuku is right in middle of the busisest night life districts in Japan whereas Mimaru Tokyo Ueno East seems to be a little more residential than commercial in comparison. (I did move hotels when I recently stayed in Kyoto for 9 days, just to get a different taste of neighbourhoods for each stay, but having to carry luggage is not fun…)

3. Since you want to go to Odaiba I can recommend the Tokyo Gundam Base store at the top floor of Diver City, get lost in that never ending sea of Gunpla model kits.

4. Why are you so dead set on switching Hotels? If you stay in Tokyo for two weeks then I see no reason to go through the hassle of check-out/in twice.

5. I think a week of spontaneity is really really excessive. Personally I find the idea of going on vacation with no concrete plan to be very…idk immature?

   Spontaneity is fun, but why would you spend so much time on your vacation planning out what to do when you could have spent months figuring it out before hand. Time is your most precious and limited resource when traveling, so the thought of wasting it sitting at a cafe googling or trying to figure out what or where I
   will go next fills me with dread. That’s a very expensive waste of time.

   I would recommend thoroughly planning two weeks worth of stuff, in perhaps half day packets of related activity, and then when it comes to being there you’ll simply pick from the list of stuff you’ve planned or be spontaneous if you wish. However this way you’ll never waste time planning unless it is truly worthwhile.

6. I’d also say that 2 weeks in Tokyo is excessive considering you’ve left half of it unplanned and empty. Why not venture out to other cities, towns, or villages? Perhaps include some hiking?

7. Yo why are people still making plans to go in the middle of a pandemic

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9. i would reccomend not spending all day at joypolis i think it covers enough for maybe 3-5 hours of the day

10. Hi! I’ve been meaning to respond back to your original thread, and I’m glad to see you pared down your schedule as well dropped down the number of hotels to two . I can understand staying at Hotel Gracery for Godzilla for a few days and moving to another hotel later.

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    I’m also an anime/manga geek who has traveled to Japan multiple times so I can provide some suggestions and tips.

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    I would usually get an idea from Hyperdia ([https://www.hyperdia.com/](https://www.hyperdia.com/)) on how to get from one location to another and understand how long it takes to get there. I would recommend using it to assist figuring out how your day would go. Even though Seibu-Shinjuku station is closer to your hotel, you may just want to walk to Shinjuku Station to avoid multiple transfers across railways.

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    One thing to keep in mind while planning out your trip is when you plan to shop. For example, in Nakano Broadway even if you plan to be there most of the day, if you end up buying bulky items it will get harder to browse other stores. Some stores are usually smaller and have narrow aisles. If you think you’ll end up buying a lot, try splitting your trip, and make use of coin lockers when you can. You might be better off going to Suginami Animation Museum in the morning so you don’t have to carry anything, then have lunch around Nakano Broadway before going about shopping.

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    Another thing to keep in mind is checking whether a museum/place is open on a certain day. For example Suginami is closed on Mondays so you’ll have to make sure you don’t schedule your trip that day. Ideally you’d also want to adjust your schedule going to popular tourist spots/restaurants like Skytree, which is usually busier over the weekends.

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    On the hotel move, check out is likely around 11, while check in might be around 3, so I suggest going to Ueno Station and dropping your luggage there in a coin locker. Then explore Ueno Park, the museum and zoo, eat lunch, then once its time for check in, go retrieve your luggage. Or feel free to continue on your day and just grab you luggage at the end of the day of exploring and check in at night.

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    For Artnia Square Enix cafe, go there during the middle of the afternoon when there are likely less people. You’ll probably end up on a waiting list if you don’t have reservations (so roam around their store in the while waiting).

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    I also use Dango News ([https://www.dangonews.com/](https://www.dangonews.com/)) for info on anime/manga cafe. They have a calendar and you can find out info if there is anything of interest during the time of your trip.

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    Additionally, if you want to know of any anime/manga exhibits, keep an eye out on Manga Planet’s list that they post every month (This one is for December – [https://mangaplanet.com/manga-events-december-2020-manga-planet-listing/](https://mangaplanet.com/manga-events-december-2020-manga-planet-listing/)). Also look at the anime tourism site if you want ideas of where to explore. ([https://animetourism88.com/en](https://animetourism88.com/en))

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    You mentioned Tokyo Character Street in your previous post, and that one is fairly easy to visit/shop since it is an area inside Tokyo Station.

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    And while sadly Tokyo One Piece Tower had to close this year, you can still visit the Mugiwara store either in Shibuya or Ikebukuro. You may also want to check out Jump Shop ([https://www.shonenjump.com/j/jumpshop/](https://www.shonenjump.com/j/jumpshop/)), they have quite a few locations.

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    While at Shibuya, you might also want to check out the 6th Floor of PARCO which has a group of stores that may possibly be of interest (Nintendo, Pokemon, JUMP, Capcom, etc)

    [https://shibuya.parco.jp/floor/detail/?f=6f](https://shibuya.parco.jp/floor/detail/?f=6f)

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    Akihabara shops are all scattered throughout the area, but I do recommend checking out Akiba Culture Zone ([https://www.akibacultureszone.com/en/](https://www.akibacultureszone.com/en/)).

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    14 days is a lot to spend in Tokyo, and that is your discretion on whether to spend all your time there. A lot are recommending to at least go outside of Tokyo and explore because Japan has a lot to offer in food, scenery and culture. But I do recommend looking into a bunch of day trip itineraries outside of Tokyo, maybe a few will catch your interest!

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    I can also understand the hesitance to go further, but one of my tips for planning is getting as much info you can. Sometimes even the small stuff like which station exit to use helps. Figuring out what train route to take, sometimes taking a longer route because it has less transfers also helps. I tend to take a train route that may be 5 minutes longer, but it usually means I don’t have to transfer and look for the correct platform to get to the next train.

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    Watching a bunch of YouTube vloggers also helps (there’s quite a bit for Tokyo) and will help you visualize the area and be more comfortable once you are actually there.

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    Also have alternate plans for bad weather, so you can adjust your schedule on the fly. Keep a list of to-do things/places you want to accomplish during your trip, decide in advance which are ones you can drop off your schedule. While we don’t know how the pandemic will play out and when travel will be safe again, use that time to gather info. Maybe there’s food that you want to try, you can look up options where to get them. Getting info on what to do when you get to the airport, how to get to your hotel, getting an IC card to pay train fare, schedules and hours of operations of places you want to visit/shop, there’s a lot of small stuff that you can look up info for to prepare.

11. It seems like a lot of your desired locations are places with set business hours so this advice may be more for your second week. But from personal experience from my own trip if there isnt a set ‘open’ time for your desired attraction/location then try to go as early as possible. Like STUPIDLY early if you can.

    Like, especially if you want to go see Kaminarimon, with your second location in Ueno you can walk to it in 22 min so be there either late at night or early morning. You beat the crowds and from what I’ve seen the lights around it at night are gorgeous.

    I also found, personally, that navigating was easier in the early mornings since there were less people so I felt less stressed/anxious when constantly needing to stop and look at my phone. Often I’d just stand there turning in circles trying to figure out which direction it was trying to tell me or walk half a block one way then turn around because I realized I was going the opposite direction it was saying.

    If you are interested in the Ghibli museum, which was a personal highlight of my own trip but isnt a MUST for everyone of course, I can confirm that its pretty straight forward getting there once you get on the main street. Mitaka station is part of the JR line so you can get to it easily enough and with google maps and the signs they have along the way from the station ( [https://sqeries.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ghilbli-sign-800×6001.jpg?w=300&h=225](https://sqeries.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ghilbli-sign-800×6001.jpg?w=300&h=225) ) its not to bad if you feel up to it. Also, ESPECIALLY in the early-ish morning, the walk is gorgeous. Its along a little man made river and the houses are very cute with lots of trees and bushes. And this was in December when I went I can only imagine what it would be like in June with everything in full bloom.

    I do hope you are able to get to all of the locations you are wanting to go to and at the same time are able to enjoy yourself even if you get turned around sometimes. It can be so much fun to ‘get lost’ sometimes and hope you have some great adventures while there.

12. Wow, I hope to go in April or May – do we know if Japan plans to lift travel ban for those who will get vaccine?

13. Just curious, I got a stupid cheap price for a direct plane flight to Japan in September, do you still need to Quarantine?