Hello all, I was wondering if anyone could please lend some advice regarding our (25F and 34M) upcoming Japan trip? We are leaving in less than two weeks, and I have been so busy that I was only able to start planning a few days ago. ;w; Thanks in advance, all advice/suggestions/criticism welcomed!!
**Day 1** \- Traveling Day. We will be landing at NRT around 3:30pm after around 15 hours on a plane, so I’m sure we will be very jetlagged. I did not plan anything for this day other than taking the Narita express to Shinjuku with our luggage, where we will be staying. (Staying at APA Hotel Kabukicho Tower Shinjuku if anyone has any recommendations regarding this hotel or the surrounding area.) Also, we will be picking up Pocket Wifi (Japan Wireless) and 14-Day JR pass.
**Day 2** \- Wake up and grab breakfast from Conbini or Starbucks/something quick (Don’t worry, I know it’s not good to eat or drink and walk at the same time, so we won’t be doing it 🙂 !)
Walk from Hotel to Shinjuku Station (8 mins.) and take train to Tokyo Station. Walk (10 mins.) to the Imperial Palace.
After spending some time at the Imperial Palace, we would like to take the train from Otemachi Station to Yushima Station, and walk from the station to Ueno Park. I would love to go to the zoo there! I would also like to see the Hanazono Inari Shrine.
After the park/zoo, if we have time, I plan to go to Ameyoko Shopping Street to grab dinner and do some shopping if there is time. Then, take the train from Okachimachi Station to Shinjuku Station and go back to the hotel.
**Day 3 -** Akihabara !! My boyfriend is HUGELY into video games, anime, and manga, so he would like to spend a whole day in Akihabara if possible. I love him dearly, so I am happy to do that with him! We plan on pretty much wandering around, with a few things that we would really like to see:
* Square Enix cafe – can anyone give me some information about this place? Do we need a reservation in advance?
* As many Mandrakes as possible
* Don Quijote
* Radio Kaikan
* Super Potato
* Taiko (gaming)
* Owl cafe? If anyone has information about going here, I would appreciate it!
Suggestions on things to do or eat in Akihabara are welcome. I love anything cute/animals and boyfriend is a big nerd lmao
**Day 4 -** Odaiba and Shibuya! On this day we plan to get up early and take the train to Odaiba to go to TeamLabs Planets. Should spend about 2 hours there(?) and then I would like to take the train from Odaiba to Shibuya Station (about 40 minutes if I’m reading correctly) and explore Shibuya. Also, is Joyopolis in Odaiba worth going to? I’ve read mixed reviews, but we both love fun things!!
Things we would like to see in Shibuya (please feel free to give suggestions)
* Vintage clothing stores
* Shibuya Sky
* Hachiko statue
* Shibuya Parco mall with Nintendo Store
* Pokemon Center Shibuya
* More Mandrakes
* Tokyu Hands store
* Konno Hachimangu Shrine
Not sure where to eat yet, will maybe play it by ear. Suggestions welcome.
**Day 5** \- Day Trip to Mt. Fuji/Hakone area. We will get up early this day and go from Shinjuku Station to Tokyo Station and take the bullet train to Odawara Station, where we will catch the Hakone Tozan train to Hakone-Itabashi station. I saw that the climbing trails at Mt. Fuji are closed until July, so I would like to use the cable cars/ropeways to get some nice views if possible. Things we want to do/see:
* Hakone Shrine
* Hakone Open Air Museum
* Yurari Onsen for day use of the onsen/towel rental.
* Suggestions on places to eat, please? 🙂
I’m sure this will be a packed day since the traveling is a long time in itself! After everything, we will take the bullet train back to Tokyo and go back to the hotel.
**Day 6** \- Tokyo DisneySea. Pretty self explanatory.. I love Disney but I heard that it’s a little bit too much to try and do Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea together in only one day, so I think we will choose DisneySea since it seems more unique. We will try to get there early, since they open at 8am. After Disney, we will go back to the hotel, since this will probably take up the whole day.
**Day 7** \- Travel from Tokyo to Kyoto. Check out of Tokyo Hotel before 10am. The second leg of our trip will be spent between Kyoto and Osaka. We will be staying in Kyoto (SH by the Square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi is the name of the hotel if anyone knows anything about it/in the immediate area.) and taking the bullet train to Osaka on our Osaka Days. The bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto is about 2 hours and 40 minutes long, and the check-in time for our hotel isn’t until 4-5pm, so maybe we can take it easy. Does anyone know if there is space for large luggage on the Hikari Shinkansen? We might have to use Takkyubin luggage delivery service if there is not space. If we have extra time/energy after the bullet train, we could visit the Higashiyama District for shopping and eating. I would really like to go to the Pokemon Center in Kyoto at some point during our stay, also!
**Day 8** \- Fushimi Inari/Thousand Torii Gates and Nara. Is it doable to do both these on the same day? We plan to go to Fushimi Inari early in an attempt to slightly avoid crowds, and climb a little bit. I heard there are restaurants along the trail here?
For Nara, we would take the semi-express train from Inari Station to Rokujizo Station, change to the Kaisoku Express, and ride to Nara (about 45 minutes.) In Nara, we would like to see:
* Nara Park with the deer
* Kofukuji Temple
* Todaiji Temple (big Buddha statue)
* Suggestions for Nara welcome, if you think it is possible to do Fushimi Inari and Nara on the same day.
From Nara, we would take the train back to Kyoto, where the hotel is.
**Day 9** \- Arashiyama. This day seems really packed, so suggestions welcome.
* Wake up early and take the train from Kyoto Station to Arashiyama Station.
* Walk/climb 10min. to Arashiyama Monkey Park from station to see the monkeys.
* Walk 5min. from Monkey Park to Togetsukyo Bridge, take some photos, and then walk 5min. from bridge to Tenryuji Temple.
* Leave through back entrance of Tenryuji to the Bamboo Groves. Not sure how much time is typically spent in any of the above places.
* After the bamboo groves, Saga-Toriimoto Street would be a good place to stop and eat.
* If we have extra time, I saw that Jojakkoji, Gioji, Otagi Nenbutsuji, and Daikakuji are worth seeing.
* Take train back to Kyoto Station from Arashiyama Station.
**\*\*\* Need a little help with the Kyoto portion because I really want to see Kiyomizudera, Higashiyama, and the Starbucks in Kyoto with the Tatami flooring. Please advise if there’s anything we can take out to fit this in!! ;\_\_\_\_\_; Maybe we can do it the first day…? \*\*\***
**Day 10** \- Universal Studios Japan in Osaka! My boyfriend is a huge fan of Super Mario, so of course we will be going to USJ during our trip. 🙂 We will start in Kyoto, and take the Bullet Train to Osaka (about 15 minutes.) Then, take the JR Yumesaki Line to Universal Station, and walk to the park. The park opens at 8:00am, and I did hear that we should try to get there early because of the crowds. Hopefully, we can get some of the “timed entry” tickets for the attractions, if anyone knows anything about that. After we are done at the park, we can get dinner at Universal’s City Walk. And then, take the bullet train back to Kyoto where the hotel is.
**Day 11 -** The history in Osaka.
* Take bullet train from Kyoto to Osaka, and take the JR Osaka Loop line to Osaka Castle. We would love to spend some time exploring everything the castle has to offer (Park, Museum, Observation Deck, etc.).
* The Osaka Museum of History is nearby – worth going to?
* Take Tanimachi subway line from Tanimachi Station to Shitennoji-mae-Yuhigoka Station to see Shitennoji Temple.
* After the castle and temple, I am not sure what else to do other than heading to Dotonbori and Shinsekai for shopping, and Kuromori Market/Hozenji Yokocho for food.
**Day 12** \- Time to check out the Osaka Aquarium!!
* Take the bullet train from Kyoto to Osaka, and then take the Chuo Subway line to the Osakako Station and walk to the aquarium.
* The aquarium opens at 10am and we would like to be there when it opens. (Thankfully it is only around 18 USD which is not expensive at all!!) We plan to spend around 3 hours there.
* After the aquarium, not really sure what to do that day.. I would like to see the Umeda Sky building (garden, restaurants, observation deck) and the Pokemon Cafe there if possible (reservation needed??). The Osaka Pokemon Center is a must also (5 minute walk from Osaka Station)!
**Day 13** \- Travel back to Tokyo from Kyoto. Check out of Kyoto hotel is at 10am, may need to use luggage delivery service if we have too much stuff. Bullet train is approximately 2hr 40min.
* Maybe this could be a day to catch up on some things in Tokyo that we didn’t get to see before?
**Day 14** \- our flight is this day, it leaves at 5:30PM. We probably need to be at the airport 2-3 hours early I’m assuming, so be there around 2:30? Might need to use luggage delivery service to airport, though I know the Narita has extra space in the cars for luggage. We will check out of the hotel, have them either hold the luggage or use the delivery service, and then maybe just walk around a little bit and do some last-minute sight-seeing/shopping. Then head to the aiport via Narita Express.
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I think that covers everything, but I would really love to have some suggestions/critique! I’ve been using various random websites and this subreddit to plan our whole trip, I literally have no idea what I am doing. **We really want to see pretty much anything that an average tourist would like to see, as this is our first time in Japan, and having a mix of history/culture/nerdy stuff/fun would be great. We both love Pokemon, so we definitely want to see as much Pokemon stuff as possible!**
Thank you SO much in advance !!!!!!
2 comments
>if anyone has any recommendations regarding this hotel
Their stance toward history may make you feel uncomfortable if you’re on the liberal side. They’re quite open about it and put a book on the subject in every room. If that sort of things may ruin your night there you might want to look it up beforehand.
>Owl cafe
This may not be the best choice if you’re into animal welfare.
>Does anyone know if there is space for large luggage on the Hikari Shinkansen?
You have to book luggage space if you’re traveling with oversized luggage but otherwise you can just put it in front of you because there’s enough leg room.
>Fushimi Inari/Thousand Torii Gates and Nara. Is it doable to do both these on the same day?
Have you checked the closing time for temples and shrines?
The rest: try not to go to too many places in Kyoto, and don’t hesitate to take a half day off if you get tired. Good luck!!
I’m currently staying in SH by the square hotel Kyoto, it’s perfectly located, walking distance to Higashiyama and Nishiki market. Also super easy to get to Fushimi Inari from there. I sent my luggage ahead there which arrived within 1 day from Tokyo. But honestly I could have fit it in the overhead space on Hikari, although carrying it around Tokyo station would have been a pain.
I did Fushimi Inari and Nara on the same day, perfectly doable! You can take JR Nara line (included in JR pass) to Nara directly from Fushimi Inari station, although it does take longer than the other line. I did Fushimi Inari at 7am though – the only way to avoid the crowds!
You can definitely do Higashiyama and the tatami Starbucks (same area) on the same day you arrive in Kyoto, it’s about 15mins walk from the hotel. You can check in to the hotel from 3pm.
BTW it seems you are only using your JR pass between Day 7-13? In this case it might make more sense to purchase a 7 day pass only as the JR pass is not valid on most Tokyo underground lines.