Konichiwa! (I’m trying to remember the key phrases but this likely comes off as cheesy here.)
I’m in the process of planning a nearly two week trip to Japan for this summer, traveling as a family with older kids who are especially interested in modern Japanese culture. Here’s what I was thinking so far for highlights, and I’d like to get your feedback on it.
Day 1:
* Arrive at NRT airport, forward luggage to hotel near Tokyo Station by taking JR Narita Express.
* Check into hotel, get dinner, and relax.
Day 2:
* Gather our bearings, perhaps spending time in Ueno Zoo to see snow leopards (this isn’t Japan specific but something we try to do wherever we travel.)
* Spend some time in Akihabara, but not shopping yet. Specifically we might try to visit an arcade and a theme cafe.
Day 3:
* Leave hotel, take Nozomi shinkansen to Osaka.
* Check into hotel in Osaka, see Osaka Castle and other tourist stuff, going to Dotonbori towards the evening.
Day 4:
* Universal Studios, specifically focused on Super Nintendo World.
Day 5:
* Finish up other Osaka-specific stuff, perhaps some shopping around Namba.
* If we’re not feeling like we have much left in Osaka, we can go to Nara for part of the day to feed deer.
Day 6:
* Take the Nozomi shinkansen to Hiroshima
* See the Hiroshima museum and the peace park
* Go back to Osaka on the Nozomi shinkansen
Day 7:
* Take a train to Kyoto
* See Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto Imperial Palace, and/or Kinkaku-ji
* Check out the bamboo forest in Arashiyama
* Return to Osaka for the evening
Day 8:
* Take the Nozomi shinkansen back to Tokyo
* Spend the day shopping in Akihabara and visit another theme cafe of some kind
Day 9:
* Disneyland Tokyo
Day 10:
* Take a train to Yokohama
* Visit the Gundam Factory
* Visit the Cup Noodles Museum
* Return to Tokyo via train
* Hang out in the Shibuya area, seeing the crossing and shopping at Parco
Day 11:
* Take a private van tour of Mt. Fuji, hopefully visiting the 5th Station, the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway, and the Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine
Day 12:
* Visit any remaining temples and historical sites, such as the Imperial Palace
* Maybe go to Shinjuku
Day 13:
* Finish any remaining shopping or places that we missed in whatever area we want to return to
Day 14:
* Check out of hotel, return to NRT station via train, depart from Japan
The FAQs here have been helpful in planning the actual travel, the hotels, luggage forwarding (which we plan to use throughout the trip), and cellular phone coverage so I don’t think I need advice on that. I’m looking at the Mount Fuji tours on Klook and should decide on one soon, although there are way too many with stuff we don’t care about like visiting the outlet mall or going into caves (I like caves, don’t get me wrong, but I want to see hopefully majestic views of Mount Fuji not go inside of it.)
This feels like a fairly varied agenda, but I don’t like how many travel days I have in the middle that may require more resting time. I also feel like there’s some days particularly towards the end that I don’t have well defined yet and would like to add something to them but I’m not totally sure what, apart from more shopping at geeky stores. Any suggestions for altering this agenda would be greatly appreciated. In terms of us traveling as a family, I need to balance the energy levels of my kids (tweens and up) with my wife’s limitations (epilepsy, but she’s been seizure free for over two years now, although she gets frequent long-lasting migraines if we’re too fast-paced or in stressful situations.) Her medication appears to be ok for us to not declare according to what I’ve seen on the FAQ and the Japanese government site that it points to.
4 comments
I would probably stay in Kyoto, Gion area, rather than Osaka. Gion shopping street is just more diversed than Dotonbori TBH.
try to check if there’s a direct flight from your country going to osaka. it’s much better if you do a multi city where you arrive in osaka and depart in haneda or narita.
Hi!
Define Summer.
In general, Summer is a terrible time to see Mt. Fuji. It’s also less scenic than other times of year because it’s not snow capped. It tends to cloud over early. June and July are rainy season, and while it won’t rain every day, it has a higher potential for rainy and gray weather. you can be right in front of Mt. Fuji and just not see it at all.
I’m certainly not going to say it is impossible, but the only time we’ve seen Mt. Fuji in June it involved flying from NRT to Itami. (We went every June 2016-2019) I can’t imagine July or August is going to increase that. If seeing Mt. Fuji is the only reason you are going to Kawaguchiko, I would look into the cost of one of the plane tickets just for tourists and look into a flight to Itami (Hiroshima or Chubu might work as well, KIX will not, you want a flight that goes right past it.
Chances are better for seeing Mt. Fuji early in the morning, like before 9:00 am when humidity and clouds obscure it.
The Mimaru chain seems to specialize in rooms for families and Kyoto actually has quite a few aparhotels. I do’t tend to use them because we are a party of 2, but I have seen them on offer. I know there are also places that rent out machiya, which again don’t tend to be worth it for 2.
I think Oakwood is another aparhotel chain in Japan, and would do well with 4 people.
Most anime themed cafes need reservations.
If you are going mid-July until close to the end of August, that is a Japanese break time from school and there will be a lot of domestic tourism. Just be aware of that because it will make USJ and TDR completely packed and lines insane. You can buy express passes for USJ and Premier Passes for Disney but it will add up with 4 people and both do sell out.
Depending on where you are from, many people find Japan in the Summer very hot and humid. I tend to do better with it than my tween, but Summer is when we have off. I try to make sure to take breaks during the day and find some less crowded and air conditioned places.
>with my wife’s limitations
Traveling that much in the middle of summer is stressful even for me and I grew up here…
It may be a good idea to make a backup plan to stay in a large city for longer with many day trips to surrounding areas for your children to go out by themselves.