Late Jan – Early Feb 2023 13 Day Itinerary Check

5 comments

1. Day 2 : Harajuku, Shibuya Shinjuku is for sure a fits possibility for shopping.

   Day 3 : Borderless is closing at the end of August this year, so will have to be Planets or a future exhibition. Also, Akihabara in the morning, just keep in mind the stores do not open before 10-11 am, so maybe plan something like Kanda-myojin first. And if you plan any shopping, maybe do TeamLab first and finish with Akiba shopping.

   Day 4 : From what I understand, Omicho market is more a morning thing, so maybe move it to day 5.

   Day 6 : The problem here is that you will likely have to check-in at the ryokan at 5 or 6 pm the latest (5pm for the one you named), so you kind of have to rush doing Shirakawa-go and Takayama in a single short day. While yes going in the mountain sound great, it is also not the most convenient place. While the view might not be as scenic, you could consider a ryokan in Takayama city. The other option I can think of is Gero onsen, but it would mostly make it easier to reach Nagoya and not do much to help making it closer to Takayama as it is about 1hy away on the train.

   Day 7 : In my opinion Nagoya castle is worth a stop. It is a reconstruction and they are renovating the castle keep, however, they have already rebuilt the palace and it is absolutely beautiful. Nagoya is much more know for it’s food tho.

   Day 8 : Can add Hihashiyama in general, like Yasaka-shrine, Kodai-ji, Sannenzaka, kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Pagoda.

   Day 12 : This should be a good shopping day or just do some more shopping on day 13. There is many options in Osaka, the area around Osaka/Umeda station does have a lot of shops including places like Hep Five. Shinsaibashi in an other big shopping area. There is Namba parks that is a shopping center and going a bit south you have Denden town (that is for the anime stuff). Would make a lot of sense for you to stay around Namba station and as a bonus, it is easy to reach from Mount Koya and to go to KIX.

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   I would not especially add stuff if you want to go shopping, just go during the day you are visiting. I just hope you are on the smaller side as well, large size of cloth and shoes can be harder to find.

   To stay in Kyoto or Osaka only, generally speaking both are good options, but with a daytrip to Mount Koya (as I understand, you do not want to stay for the night), for sure I would say Osaka, it will make the trip much easier. Of course, it is also possible to do both Kyoto and Osaka, especially if you want to experience both cities at night. So you have to decide if you want to change hotel once more or to take the train for about 1h each way to visit the other city. As for food, I would not say that there is less food options in Kyoto, but I would say that Osaka is more known for food and they have more staple dish. To be honest, if you spend the day in Kyoto and eat dinner in Pontocho, it make no difference that you are staying in Osaka as you won’t even eat there on that day.

   Food.

   Nagoya : Hitsumabushi (eel), tebasaki (chicken wing), miso katsu, miso nikomi udon

   Kyoto : for me it’s matcha desert (famous matcha is made in Uji), for example you can try matcha parfait, there is tea shop on Shijo-dori (in front of Yasaka-jinja) that have it, like Tsujiri (it’s a chain, but it’S pretty good). The classic sweet is yatsuhashi (it’s a kind of triangle shaped mochi, super easy to find in gift shop). Searching a bit, seems that Kyoto is known for yudofu,

   Osaka : okonomiyaki, takoyaki, kushikatsu

   Winter recommendation, check out for winter illumination.

2. To answer some of your questions:

   • There are some good outdoor scenic onsens in Fujikawaguchiko, if you were interested in travelling to that area (I recommend it if you want a tranquil detour).

   • Osaka and Kyoto are not too far from each other by train so it is doable to just stay in 1, although I’ve stayed in both on the same trip which was nice. If I had to pick though I would say stay in Osaka for sure.

   • Hard to recommend specific food from each area, but I guess the obvious ones would be takoyaki in Osaka (you can find plenty of street vendors around), Yakitori in Tokyo (lots of izakayas around that serve it) and I personally would recommend trying Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ) wherever you can. I went to one in Shibuya and it was one of the best meals I had in Japan.

3. Best place for winter scenery and activities is up north near Hokkaido, but since this is your first time back in Japan since being a kid, it makes sense to hit up the more popular destinations in your itinerary. I believe Sapporo’s snow festival starts Feb 5th if you’re still going to be in the country around then.

   If you are more a foodie and like shopping, then staying in Osaka over Kyoto is a good idea. I’m not much of a foodie, but there’s a takoyaki place in Dotonbori in the canal that I enjoyed. It usually has a line of people waiting to order from what I remember. I also really liked Menya Musashi ramen in Ueno, Tokyo.

   I visited Nagoya during winter and I did find it to be pretty plain to be honest. Worth visiting, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. I didn’t see the winter lights though. Best imagery I have of my visit to Nagoya castle during winter was a cloudy day, more crows than people, scaffolding and construction. I think there’s also a nice shopping department inside Nagoya station.

4. Kanazawa has a lot of high quality kaitenzushi places so I’d recommend checking one out for a meal there.

   If you are staying the night in Nagoya, ogura toast (red bean jam and butter on thick toast) is a local breakfast that some cafes serve.

5. *Food:*

   Harajuku you could try the super thick fluffy soufflé pancakes. They’re also known for elaborate crepes in the area.

   Kanazawa has amazing crab. They’re also know for gold leaf and there are many food items with gold leaf- the most famous is soft cream. The gold leaf is tasteless but it’s still kinda cool and makes for a nice photo opportunity too.

   Shirakawago has some great Hida beef. I had an awesome Hida beef croquette and a Hida beef noodle dish at a restaurant there.

   Kyoto is known for matcha. I’m not a matcha fan so I can’t personally recommend but it is definitely a local specialty. They also make a mochi based dessert called Yatsuhashi which is quite nice. Kyoto is also known for Kaiseki, which is a traditional multi course Japanese dinner.

   Koyasan, are you doing an overnight temple stay? If you are I really recommend getting the dinner and breakfast they offer. The food is delicious and traditional and it’s a pretty unique experience.

   Osaka is known for takoyaki, okonomiyaki and kushikatsu and all are absolutely delicious.

   *Itinerary:*

   fairly solid. I think day six looks very tight though, Shirakawago and Takayama. I’d probably choose only one. I’ve not been to Takayama but I spent about 28 hours in Shirakawago (yes I stayed overnight) and I think I would not have been at all satisfied with only three hours.