Itinery check and advice for Upcoming 10 days golden week Trip- Tokyo/Hakone/Kawaguchiko and Ashikaga- 25 April-4 May

Hi all! i will be heading to Tokyo from 25 April- 4 May 2023. The main purpose of my visit is sightseeing as well as to see the Azalea and wisteria that i heard will begin to bloom Late April and May. I also play magic the gathering and i asked in r/magicTCG and they recommended me some stores in Akihabara and Ikkebukuro

**Day 1 – Narita and Shinjuku free and easy**

* Arrive at Narita 15:45hrs and taking the shinjuku express to shinjuku.
* Check into Shinjuku Gracery Hotel
* Dinner at Omoide Yokocho yakitori might hit a few different places
* Golden Gai bar trip (heard albatross is a good bar but looking for some books related or music vinyl records bar that are foreigner friendly if there are any recommendations) and Kabukicho walk

**Day 2- Ikkebukuro, Nakano, Rikugien**

* simple breakfast at shinjuku preferably Udon or Soba would be good as we might be jetlagged from the previous day
* head to Komagome station through the JR line and visit fukiage Chaya for some light snack and matcha
* head to Nakano broadway to have a short sightseeing tour of the mandrake and a creepy doll store on the top floor recommended by a friend of mine who visited late last year and dared me to walk the entirety of the store
* head to Ikkebukuro to have late lunch at muteki-ya (i heard the queue is long at lunch time so i thought to go abit past that to beat the lunch crowd) and visit the Animate building and a few magic the gathering stores as well as the pokemon centre at sunshine city to run an errand
* booked a dinner slot at Rokassen for wagyu buffet

Day 3- Hakone

* wake up early to have breakfast at the hotel and head to the shinjuku station to take the romancecar and collect my hakone freepass
* stash our luggage at Hakone Suimeisou
* touring the Hakone region (on my bucket list is the sightseeing pirate ship, Hakone ropeway and barakuwa art musuem)
* head back to the ryokan for check-in and dinner and onsen

**Day 4- Hakone**

* Breakfast at the Ryokan
* head out to the Okada Musuem and Hakone musuem of art
* lunch at local food stands or store
* head to Hakone kowakien Yunessun for the afternoon to enjoy the resort
* head back for dinner and rest at the Ryokan

Hoping to fit in the Hakone botanical gardens of wetlands as well as i saw geographically it is close to the ropeway but not sure if we can make time to fit this in so if anyone have any advice based on our itinery we would be very open to suggestions

**Day 5- Shibuya and Shinjuku**

* Breakfast at the Ryokan and take the romancecar back to shinjuku
* leave our luggage at Shinjuku Washington Hotel
* head to shibuya crossing to see hachiko square and tower records and shopping at shibuya 109
* head back to shinjuku for dinner at the food street near to the hotel
* check in and rest of the night

**Day 6- Kawaguchiko**

* Head to the bus terminal from the hotel to take the highway bus to Kawaguchiko
* take a bus to Shiki no Yado to leave our luggage
* head to the kachi-kachi ropeway, sightseeing boat
* head back to Kawaguchi station to take a bus to Fuji shibazakura festival to have lunch and light snack at the festival store
* head to the yamanshi gem museum and kawaguchiko herb hall befire walking to have dinner at the ryokan

**Day 7- Odaiba, Tokyo station and Ginza**

* go for an early morning pre-booked onsen and take the highway bus back to Shinjuku
* head to akihabara to leave our luggage at Dormy Inn Akihabara
* take a train to odaiba via yamanote line transferring to Rinkai line to tokyo teleport
* visit diver city for lunch and the Gundam base
* shop around the malls of Diver city and Aqua city
* take a train back to check into Dormy Inn Akihabara and head out towards Ginza and dinner at Yakiniku A5 Toku ginza
* Ginza night walk before retiring to hotel

**Day 8- Akihabara

* Simple breakfast in Akihabara and head out to Tokyo station to see imperial east gardens
* lunch at ramen street (any recommendations is appreciated!)
* Akihabara shopping. Planning to visit Radio kaikan, Hareruya, Amenity dream and dragon star (Will also be looking out for figurines so any recommendations will be great) and art jeunesse
* Dinner at Jiromaru before heading to Mogra Akihabara

** Day 9- Ashikaga, Ueno park and Akihabara night activity

* Breakfast at Tokyo station and take the JR line from Tokyo to Oyama and transfer to the JR Ryomo Line all the way to Ashikaga flower park station and will be staying for The tale of Fuji no Hana
* lunch at the flower park’s cafe
* Head back to tokyo station and head to Ueno park for the Satsuki festival and brisk walking till night time
* Head back to Akihabara to have light dinner at Atre 1’s standing sushi bar and head to Kurand Sake Market Akihabara for the liquid buffet before heading back to the hotel

** Day 10- Free and easy or open recommendation

* nothing much for the day but I think we would have to review how much yen we have left by the last day we don’t plan to bring too much back home so we might spend it on more Magic cards, a great lunch and keep about 30000 yen as a backup for unforeseen circumstance. My flight is at 2100hrs Japan Time so any recommendations on how we can spend the day would also greatly be appreciated

When planning the trip I think the biggest hurdle I met was planning where to eat. I am a overly cautious person so when I do a search on a food place i spend alot of time cross checking reviews (could be a job bad habit rubbing off) but never really coming up with a decision especially when some recommendations are so close to one another in terms of review stars. We are mainly looking to enjoy Wagyu beef like Matsusaka Wagyu and Ohmi beef but I cannot decide on the best aside from the 3 in my itinery which was generally almost fully top rated across different review platforms.

I am also looking for advice on where a Whisky and sake enthusiast can buy Japanese Whisky or sake for collection purposes (I am looking more for obscure brands rather than suntory or Nikka which can be be bought in my home country pretty easily albeit a little expensive) and was glad to find Kurand sake market as i heard they have quite the exotic selection but I am always open to more suggestions

kindly seeking advice on how I can improve my trip. My travelling partner’s opinion was that the schedule is abit ambitious as he being a much more scientific and meticulous guy pointed out how we would be spending very little time at certain places (day 2, 6 and 9 was his main concern) and how some days we seem to be allocating too much time to certain places (day 3) and it look like we will have alot of free time so if there are any suggestions on how I can be more efficient it will be really great too and I welcome all criticism as it will help me be a better trip planner. Thank you all kindly for the help in advance!

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