Hi everyone, 28M first time solo traveller here from Canada looking to experience a different way of life for a few weeks. I’m really interested in food, anime (Attack on Titan, Spy X Family, Boruto, Bleach, Code Geass, Gundam,etc…), sightseeing, skating and sports in general.
I have a few questions:
* I’ve tried to plan out an itinerary below and was wondering if I could get your thoughts as I feel like I don’t have enough to do on certain days?
* Are there any places I could go for a public skate or run?
* Is taking a few Rosetta stone lessons on Japanese coupled with Google translate going to be enough to get by solo?
* Since I’m taking the bullet train to Kyoto, I presume the Suica card is the better option as opposed to JR Pass?
* What vaccines are going to be necessary for Japan (Hep A/B, and Tetanus)?
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April 27th
* Arrive at NRT 4:30pm
* Get Sim card, suica card at airport
* Go to an AirBNB in Shinjuku – catch up on sleep, roam around and eat
April 28-29th
* Morning
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
* Tokyo Met Gov Building
* Evening
* Istean Dept Store
* Nakano Broadway (Akihabara is better though)
* golden gai
April 30
* Morning
* Ueno Park
* Asakusa for temples and shopping in the area
* Evening
* Akihabara (anime and gundam cafe is there) – roads are closed on Sundays
* Tokyo Skytree
May 1
* Morning
* Meiji Shrine
* Shibuya Miyashita Park
* Lunch: Ramen at Ichiran
* Evening
* Shibuya crossing
* Dinner at Ginza Steak to try Wagyu
May 2,
* Morning
* Check out of AirBNB
* take bullet train to arrive in Kyoto for noon, put stuff in locker at Kyoto station until Kyoto Airbnb opens for check-in
* Evening
* Pokemon Center in Kyoto
* Check-in to Kyoto AirBNB
May 3
* Morning
* Fushimi inari shrine
* Nishiki market (red bean buns!)
* Evening
* Kiyomizudera temple
* Kyoto Imperial Palace
May 4
* Morning
* Arashiyama bamboo forest (less crowded in morning)
* Arashiyama monkey park
* Evening
* Hogonin/Tenryuji temple
* Eat at Sushi Naritaya
May 5
* Morning
* Checkout of Kyoto AirBNB
* Take bullet train back to Tokyo AirBNB near Tokyo Station
* Tsukiji Market
* Evening
* See 1:1 Gundam move
* Joyopolis
May 6
* Morning
* Tokyo tower
* Roppongi Hills
* Evening
* Not Sure (maybe Teamlab planets)
* Dinner at CoCo Ichibanya Curry
May 7
* All day – shop around for gifts/souvenirs for friends/family
May 8
* Check-out in morning, roam around
* Leave at 12pm for NRT so I can board a plane leaving at 6:15pm
​
Thanks!
7 comments
Don’t know about skating but some popular running destinations in Tokyo include the sumida river, the loop around the outside of the imperial palace moat, and the meguro river. In Kyoto there are paths on both sides of the Kamo River and some cool stepping stone crossings. Running is great when you are super jet lagged and wide awake at 530 am and nothing is open.
For vaccines, check the weekly question thread for a faq and links – the only vaccine they will check is covid. You don’t need anything special otherwise but of course having the shots you listed is always a good idea when traveling.
Not sure about your airbnb, but everything else looks touristy and should prob have English. Also while knowing Japanese would have greatly helped. Me and the JR lost and found were able to find a backpack that went to Tokyo without me while I went to Takayama. All three people in lost and found didn’t speak any English. Hope you have fun.
For your Nakano Broadway or Akiba days, note that most stores close around 8pm with the exception of arcades, UFO catchers or Don Quijote I think. That’s something to consider if you want to shop.
Ichiran is everywhere so you don’t need to go to the one in Shibuya
I think JR 7-day is worth it in your case if you take the NEX back to Narita. To take full advantage maybe even flex out your May 6 to a day trip to somewhere close like Yokohama, Atami, or Nagoya.
Suica will not let you use the Shinkansen by default. You do not have enough Shinkansen to make much savings, so you can go with two individual Shinkansen tickets and use the faster nozomi. If you want to use Suica only, it is possible to buy tickets on smart ex app and link your Suica.
For vaccine, right now covid with a booster shot.
For running some else gave options, I would add yoyogi park.
Many shrines and temples in Kyoto close early. Make sure to check the hours of operation before you go. For example, on May 3rd you have planned to visit Kiyomizu Dera in the evening, but they close at 6pm [hours of operation of Kiyomizu Dera ](https://www.kiyomizudera.or.jp/access.php#worship)
Warning: you will be travelling during golden week (3rd – 7th of may) a yearly holiday where every japanese will go out and travel. Expect it being very crowded everywhere.
Getting jr pass is cheaper than buying return ticket tokyo – kyoto. Buy the jr pass from jr pass website where you can book your seat in advance (if not, you will be standing on your way from kyoto to tokyo and vice versa). Don’t buy it from klook or somewhere else, you won’t be able to book in advance (cmiiw)
They have english signs everywhere, and don’t forget to get sim card for internet, google maps and google translate is God send
Vaccine right now is 2 covid shots and 1 booster
IMO, going to kyoto on day 1 first seems the most logical step. It will be less crowded. Activate jr pass straight away (get the 7 day one) you can use it for narita express to tokyo (which 3K yen / 30usd).
You don’t want to check osaka? Take one day and go to osaka, you can go to pokemon center in skytree (no need to do pokemon center in kyoto)
My take:
27: go to osaka, check in osaka airbnb
28: osaka: kuromon market, dotonbori, denden town (full of anime goods and gunpla, cheaper than tokyo), teamlab botanical
29-30: kyoto
1-8: tokyo
My thoughts on tokyo: add odaiba? Gundam unicorn 1:1 statue and gundam base tokyo (limited edition gunpla), you can do it together with joypolis as they are in same area. There is another one in yokohama which is gundam factory, rx-78 that can move, odaiba one only transform.
One stop shopping for souvenirs are don quijote and daiso (tbh, you can do it in between your days as they are everywhere).
IMO, you can have 1 free day, maybe disneysea? Anywhere before 3rd of may, (if you see my take, 1st of may seems nice)
That’s crazy im also canadian solo traveling your exact days – your post is gonna help me plan 🙂