Hearing that Japan opens their borders very soon and since I am very close to having enough saved up to travel, I’m sharing my plans. The earliest I could leave is in 1 month, the latest I’ll leave is August.
Budget: $4,000
Japan Airport: Haneda
US Airport: San Diego
Hotel: Shinjuku Urban Hotel
Duration: 1 week
# Day 0, 1 – Departure from the US, arrival in Japan
Est. departure time: 4pm PST or evening Est. arrival time: 8am Japan time or some time in the morning
I plan on leaving in the afternoon to sleep and relax on the airplane. My hope is to arrive in the morning in Japan. Once I arrive, I plan on picking up my JR Rail pass. With the pass, I’ll use it to take the Shinjuku line to Shinjuku Station. I’ll then take the bus line to the hotel, it seems that would be about a 10 or 20 minute ride on the bus. Once at the hotel, I’ll check in and go to the room.
Once I am in my room, I’ll probably take a shower and grab some food. I might go to a kombini or some sort of convenience store, I’ll also get some snacks and general hotel things that I’d want. After that, I plan on relaxing until the evening. In the evening, I’ll go out and get some food (probably ramen).
# Day 2
On my second day, I’d like to check out the Gundam Base. Luckily for me, that is near Haneda airport. I’ll take the Shinjuku line down and visit the Gundam Base. I plan on spending many hours there checking out the statue, shops, etc.
# Day 3
This is when I plan on going to a few book stores. I’ll be mainly walking around.
# Day 4
Shrines, I want to see a couple shrines. Not sure which ones but I want to see them.
# Day 5
Akihabara, walking around.
# Day 6
Check out whatever I want on my last full day.
# Day 7 – Departure from Japan
I plan on checking out as soon as I can then leave. I’ll use the Shinjuku line to travel back to Haneda.
20 comments
I’m pretty sure the only way you can travel to Japan, this year, is to book with a government approved tour. You will be unable to deviate or leave the tour itinerary.
If you are just staying in the Tokyo area. You really don’t need a JR Pass. Even if you go to Yokohama or Kamakura
You’re not leaving Tokyo, you don’t need a JR pass, don’t spend money you don’t need to spend. Just because practically everyone going to Japan gets a JR pass doesn’t mean you need one. People get passes because they’ll be spending more if they buy shinkansen tickets “ala-carte”. You won’t spend 29k yen on Tokyo subways and trains in a week. Just buy a Suica or Pasmo from the station and top it up as needed
And also, don’t assume Japan is opening up to free & easy travel anytime soon. They’re only opening up for packaged tours on 10th June, we don’t know when they’ll open up for travelers not on tour packages. Their ongoing trials which just started a week ago already returned one covid case. Setting a “latest by” date may just set you up for some disappointment further down the road.
Japan is slowly opening back, but for people on guided tour, so we do not know yet if it will even be possible to freely go before August.
What flight do you plan to take to land in Narita at 8am ? There a flight from LAX that land at 5am, next is from Seattle at 2pm. So either you get there super early, or you get there in the afternoon as most flight from the US land in the afternoon.
JR Pass for what ? You are staying around Tokyo so it will cost almost nothing to pay for individual tickets compared to a JR Pass. Just get a Suica or Pasmo to make payment easier.
Shinjuku line, like the Toei Shinjuku line ? That is a Subay line and not covered by JR Pass, and also not going to the airport. Or JR Shonan-Shinjuku line… also not going to the airport.
From the airport to Shinjuku, the best way is to take the Keikyu line to Shinagawa and the Yamanote line to Shinjuku. Or you could take the limousine bus from the airport direct to Shinjuku.
If you are at Shinjuku station, it will not take 10-20 minutes to reach the hotel by bus, that hotel is in kabukicho, like 10m walk from JR Shinjuku station.
Your plan for the first day only work if you land in the afternoon, if you land in the morning, you won’t be able to check-in right away, so you would be better doing something on that day.
Gundam base on Odaiba is… not that close to Haneda and I do not even see why it matter. Also not the Shinjuku line, you can go direct from Sinjuku to Tokyo Teleport station on the Saikyo/Rinkai line.
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You itinerary is really light and lacking a lot of the major neighborhoods of Tokyo. Instead of doing a shrine day, just go to shrine/temple that are close to what you want to do on that day. There is big bookstores in many places and for sure that does not need a full day and can be incorporated in other days.
Hi man, looks good so far. I would avoid taking the bus with your luggage though, since that is a hassle to you and to the other travelers. For day three, is that really how you want to spend the day? 1 week in Japan is already short and spending 1 day for book stores might be a waste, what are you hoping to find that you can not find by browsing online? Maybe use this day to get out of Tokyo, visit Hakone for example. Wish you all the best on your travels!
As others are mentioned, don’t get the JR Pass unless you plan on going outside of Tokyo. You can get 1-3 day subway passes in Tokyo for about 500-1500 yen if you’re a foreigner. Just go to an information center at a subway station with your passport and you’ll be able to buy one. You can also buy as many as you want after they expire.
Looks like your hotel is pretty close to Shinjuku Station, so I don’t think you’ll need to take a bus. I only remember riding the bus once in Tokyo but I was in one of the older areas around Minowa.
When you visit the Gundam statue in Odaiba, maybe you can fit in Yokohama on the same day as they are somewhat close by subway. Do you know of any other districts in Tokyo you want to visit?
It is very unlikely you will be able to do this this summer. If you want to go it’ll have to be with a tour group.
Japan is opening up next week but only to official tour groups. They’ll probably run this for a couple weeks before any new changes happen.
There’s also a election this summer so any new changes will probably happen after the election so we’re realistically looking at fall for an opening up for free tourist movement.
Check flights leaving from LAX instead of San Diego. Theyre often cheap enough to be worth the trip.
You’ll need to wait until guided tours aren’t the only way for tourists to travel to Japan my friend.
I’ve not read all the other comments, but here’s some of my thoughts.
1) Don’t take the bus. Take the airport train line to Higashi-Nihombashi Station
and then Transfer to the Shinjuku Line. This will save you a lot of trouble with the busses and it’s a minute or two from Shinjuku-sanchome Station to your hotel.
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2) You likely won’t need the whole day for the Gundam statue and surrounding areas. I spent a morning there (roughly 9:00-12:00) and that was more than enough. You may stay longer as I’m not a big anime fan but wanted to tick it of my list.
If anime is your thing, I’d perhaps spend the afternoon of that day at Nakano Broadway if shopping goods etc tickle your fancy.
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3) What sort of books and so on are you after? Visiting places like Book Off and Hard Off are quite enjoyable for me, seeing what knickknacks I can find. I saw others said it’s not worth spending a day doing this, but if you find a few on Google Maps and work out a walking path between them it can be a great way to see the lesser known parts of the cities.
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4) You can definitely spend a day in Akihabara, which I know some will say isn’t worth it, but I’ve done it twice (about 7 years apart albeit). If you’re in to gaming and so on try look up the Final Fantasy Restaurant. I don’t know if it’s open post-COVID etc but it’s an interesting though touristy experience.
Also don’t be afraid to go upstairs in all the buildings as there’s a lot more to every shop than whats on the ground floors, though be careful as some of them are all Adult stores past level 3 or 4.
The rest seems ok. Keeping a day free I think is always good as you may find things you missed or want to go back to.
As others have said, the JR Pass isn’t needed. Look up buying a Suica card and then top it up with 5,000 yen on your first day and top up as needed throughout your travels.
My only other note is as others have said regarding the borders. I don’t think they’ll open for general tourism until August or September at the earliest.
You do you but honestly I wouldn’t look at traveling until 2023 at the earliest because Japan can’t seem to figure out what they want to allow or not. I’m holding off until 2024 or even 2025 sadly because honestly once everything does open up the prices are going to be sky high.
Good luck though I hope you get to travel in the time frame you want too.
yeah man I would wat till fall, no way they are opening in the summer.
Like you, I’m hoping Japan opens to general tourism soon, but who knows. The Japanese government seems to be marching to the beat of its own drum. I’m optimistic though that they will cave into the realization that staying out of step from the rest of Asia is causing more harm than good.
I’ve been to the Gundam statue and Gundam store in Odaiba and thought it was pretty darn cool and worth a visit, even though I’m not a big Gundam fan. The Gundam store is massive, and itself an attraction with the number of models on display. I’ve never seen a store like it anywhere in Asia or North America. The Japanese really love their Gundam and Gunpla. You might want to consider the Walking Gundam (literally, a walking Gundam) at Gundam factory in Yokohama. It’s relatively new so some Tokyo guides may not mention it – I’ve never visited it but it looks pretty cool.
A day for shrines and a day for book shopping seems like a lot – depending on what kind of pace you move at, you could probably do both in a one day, especially since you can do one or both into the evening. Senso-ji temple is very nice, and is walking distance to the Asahi Super Dry Beer Hall (the golden poo) which is a nice place to have a cold, fresh, beer after sweating it out at the temple. After a beer (or two) you could head out to do some book shopping.
I love spending time in Akihabara. If you’re into Retrogaming, you will not find better or more stuff anywhere else in the world. Same with other anime models/toys/etc. Maid Cafes are aplenty and something you have to check out for the weirdness of it all. If you’re into this kind of stuff, you could keep coming back here multiple times just to shop. I always spend way too much time (and money) in the big electronic department stores (Yodobashi Camera, BIC Camera) – you just don’t see stores like them pretty much anywhere outside of Japan. Having said that, if you’re not into any of this, you’ll probably get bored and want to leave after a couple hours lol.
Japan Rail passes I found worth it only if you take the train a lot. As in, if you’re just doing single a return trip (say to Osaka), it’s not worth it. If you’re taking it to Osaka, and at least one other place over the course of a week, then it starts to pay off.
One suggestion for an early morning arrival – If it’s too early to check in to your hotel you might consider checking into a capsule hotel for a few hours to catch a nap if you weren’t able to sleep on the plane. Kind of a fun experience. There are a few of them around Shinjuku.
Ah, one last suggestion – if you get a clear day, you might enjoy making it to somewhere you can get a view of Mt Fuji. You can actually see Mt. Fuji from parts of Tokyo so you won’t necessarily have to travel far.
Hopefully your trip will happen!
You need to go as part of a group for the time being. You can’t go as an independent traveller.
As I understand it the tourist industry has to be restarted from a very low point. I’m not thinking of any visit before late next year.
You should probably read the second sentence of the articles you’ve been reading if you’re thinking Japan is open to all tourism “very soon”. As every website, travel blog, news site, will mention usually the next sentence after the header/title, “limited to tour bus groups,” etc
What they’re doing is opening it up to locked tour group packages. Your itinerary is fixed.
Think North Korea guided tours, buses, designated stops, everyone gets off at the same spot and explores for X minutes/hours and then gets back on the bus to the next location.
Having done one guided tour when bringing my ex-gf up to Tokyo from Kobe. I will say, I particularly did not like how rigid everything was.
You’re already fighting the clock the moment you step off the bus, in a location you might not particularly care about, waiting in line just to get some food, not counting the limited distance you can cover by foot (as you most likely will not be using the amazing train system), while still getting back to the bus on the scheduled time.
She had a great time maybe because she’s a Kansai girl happy to explore outside of her prefecture (and I would do it again if she wanted to), compared to me wanting to explore everything in the PTO I’ve taken to fly into the country.
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There’s no point in a JR Pass if you’re staying in the same city. Just get a tourist unlimited day pass. I have no experience in Kanto (but a ton in Kansai), so I’m only going on assumption they have a Kanto equivalent.
>the latest I’ll leave is August.
Out of sheer curiosity – and with the country not even open yet to proper tourism – why is August the latest you’ll leave? (I actually think June, July, and August would be HELL IMO with the heat/humidity – I’ve loved September, October, November, and beginning of December temperature wise). Assuming maybe you’re a student needing to go while on school vacation?
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>Day 4
Shrines, I want to see a couple shrines. Not sure which ones but I want to see them.
Day 5
Akihabara, walking around.
When in Akihabara, you can go to the Kanda Shrine (easy walk from main station). Would suggest pairing shrines with the different areas you’re going to go to vs. doing a day dedicated to shrines as you may end up doubling back on yourself on other days (like with the Akiba example) and wasting your own time. If you’ve saved up enough to go on this trip, make sure it’s at least good value of time to money.
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Obviously your plan sounds beyond reasonable considering you only seem to be passionate about going to Gundam Base and Akiba with 5 full days in Tokyo…I would encourage you to really ask yourself what’s drawn you to wanting to travel to Japan. $4k is a lot of money to spend on what sounds like an itinerary that lacks any excitement from your end. No offence whatsoever meant, but most people have a lot of things they want to see so it’s easier to help plan and structure. You don’t seem to have anywhere outside 2 spots that you have in your mind you want to visit and you may end up either having an amazing time just exploring around or feel like you’ve blown quite a lot of money without getting to even scratch the surface of Tokyo…
If you want to checkout bookstores the Jimbocho area will have you covered, couple hundred bookstores if I remember correctly. Definitely can find some stores where they sell English translations of Japanese books if that is something you are looking for. It is also near the Imperial Palace so you can go check that out too and if you walk around the Imperial Palace and make it to Tokyo station, there is another massive bookstore called Maruzen where you can shop too.
Here’s hoping they open for independent travel soon.
How exciting!! Good luck! We live in Okinawa and went to Osaka & Kyoto during Memorial weekend.. and had an awesome time!
4k budget for only 7 days in japan? you can (should) be able to stay way longer than that. I went for only a week before and I regret not staying longer. I’m pretty sure I only spent like 1k that whole trip not including the flight fare.