Hi – I’m traveling to Japan for two weeks with an organized group trip but have a couple of free days in Tokyo at the end. Want to make sure what I’m planning here is realistic in the time. Thanks!
(Times are mostly approximate – just trying to ballpark for myself)
**Wednesday 4/12**
9:30-10:15 Travel from hotel (Ryogoku) to Art Aquarium in Ginza
10:15-11:00 Art Aquarium
11:00-12:00 Walk around Ginza (Itoya is the priority, otherwise just window-shopping)
12:00-1:00 Lunch at Happy Pancake
1:00-1:30 Travel to teamLab Planets
1:30-3:00 teamLab Planets (1:30 reservation)
3:00-5:30 Travel to shamisen store and buy a shamisen, travel back to Akihabara (store is near Gotokuji Temple in Setagaya City – looks to be about an hour by subway from teamlab per Google Maps)
6:00-7:30 Dinner at Tonkatsu Marugo in Akihabara
7:30-onward Akihabara shops (I’m just wandering here for the atmosphere – don’t really have any specific fandoms or shopping planned. Looks like most close around 10?)
**Thursday 4/13**
10:00-10:45 Travel from hotel (Ryogoku) to Nezu Shrine
10:45-11:30 Nezu Shrine + Azalea Festival
11:30-12:00 Walk to Ueno Park / Tokyo National Museum
12:00-1:30 Tokyo National Museum
1:45-2:30 Kappabashi Street (is this enough time to explore and also buy a knife?)
2:30-3:00 Travel back to hotel
3:00 Leave hotel for Haneda Airport (international flight is at 6:25PM)
This all makes sense to me on paper, but reality is of course always different. Appreciate any advice. I tried to give myself some cushion on the subway trips – I live in NYC and am used to walking fast and taking the subway everywhere, but I don’t speak Japanese.
Also, a random question I’ve been meaning to ask out of curiosity – it seems like there are much fewer English speakers in Japan than Americans probably expect (which is of course fine and understandable; I’m trying to learn some key phrases in the interest of openness/politeness, and otherwise will use Google Translate) – just curious why it looks like there are still so many signs in English. Trying to think about how that would be in reverse, like if there were a bunch of signs in Japanese in Times Square – no one would have any idea what they said or even how to read the characters and pronounce them. What am I missing?
4 comments
Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to try to visit TeamLabs in the morning, then visit Ginza and Akihabara?
It is possible to change your visiting times for Teamlabs online (if available)
Unless that shamisen shop is somewhere deadcenter, you’d do some back and forth between Ginza-Teamlabs-Akihabara.
The English signs are a combo of “catering to lots of English speaking tourists” and “even if the tourists first language isn’t English they probably know some”
They can cover the most bases with English. But many signs will also have Chinese and/korean
The proportion of Japanese tourists to New York is WAY lower than the proportion of tourists to Japan who know at least some English
Most stores in Akihabara close by 8PM, only maid cafes and maybe like Bic Camera will be open past that time.
I was at happy pancake a couple of weeks ago. We got there right at open and got a table but a few minutes later there was a wait. It also takes awhile to get food because they make the pancakes in batches to order. I was there on a Saturday though so it’s probably better on a Wednesday.
Enjoy Itoya! I loved it as a pen and stationery nerd.