Potential 15-Day Itineray: Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo

8 comments

1. So, to start, I don’t think you *need* a JR pass. If you do decide to get them, get the one week pass, activate it upon arrival, use it to get to Osaka/Kyoto/back to Tokyo. I personally recommend it, just because it’s super easy to use and if you decide to jaunt out to Himeji (HIGHLY recommend) or some other day trip, you don’t have to worry about reserving tickets.

   * Day 1: Don’t try and eat all of that food on your first full day. Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki should be the goal for any Dotonbori trip. Also, go see Amemura on this night too, it’s a 10 minute walk. If you want a great/unique bowl of ramen, I recommend [here](https://g.page/oretachi-curry?share).

   * Day 2: Go see Osaka Castle, but I’d recommend skipping seeing the inside. If you’re looking to bar hop, I highly recommend Bar Juniper and Bar K. There’s also a great Chonko Nabe place [nearby](https://g.page/shiga_doujima?share).

   * Day 3. I was at the aquarium at open and gone within two hours, but planning to spend more time is good (it’s awesome). If you’re heading towards Namba Yasaka, I’d recommend going to the top of Abeno Harukas for a 360 degree view of the city, (I did it at sunset, it was incredible).

   * Day 4: So Kyoto is tricky. The sights can be far apart. If you have your heart set on the Monkey Park, I’d recommend doing seeing more of Western Kyoto (Arashiyama especially). Do Kinkakuji temple on this day too, Kinajuku and Fushimi Inari are on the complete opposite sides of Kyoto. I didn’t love Pontocho Alley, it was filled with foreign tourists, but that might be your thing.

   * Day 5: Fushimi Inari as early as possible (to avoid crowds), then check out the temples around Maruyama Park. That way you’re right next to Gion for night time adventures. Depending on how fine a meal you’re looking for, I’d recommend getting a kyo-kaiseki meal. One of the best meals of my life was lunch at [Gion Maruyama](https://goo.gl/maps/5iRAy286EBUPE3tbA). [Here’s](https://goo.gl/maps/qadNnFc2d6Zjredt6) a fantastic tempura meal. [Here’s](https://goo.gl/maps/Mtzs7cCuC9fP5VwE6) an amazing bar.

   * Day 6: Looks good! I moved Gion to day 5, but there’s plenty of places to explore

   * Day 7 – 13 look great, Tokyo is **massive**. You’ll find yourself with plenty to do and explore. I have not been to Fuji (it’s the biggest crime of my 5 weeks in Tokyo), but I’m sure it will be incredible. Find a way to go to TeamLab Planets or Borderless (day 10). It’s not physically tiring and it’s incredible.

2. Make sure to include Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek when you visit Tokyo Disneyland! It’s a super cool and unique attraction that you won’t find in any other Disney park. It might be wise to get a FP for that and then queue up for Beauty and the Beast because it’s on the way. If you go to Winnie the Pooh FP, you’ll have to backtrack to get to BatB.

   Also, I’d reccomend hitting up Tower of Terror at DisneySea. Even though the ride is the same, the facade, backstory, preshow and boiler room are completely different. They spent a ton of money making this hotel super elaborate and the preshow has a really cool imagineering trick that I still haven’t been able to figure out!

3. For the JR pass it would make sense if you get a 7 day pass as a return trip from Tokyo to Osaka would cost you more – but just double check the prices.

4. Shibuya is not a bad area to stay, depend of what is your goal. Unless you plan to go out after the last train, I would say that any station that have subway and yamanote is a good choice.

   You have to understand how knife making is done, and the answer is, unless you plan a day for it, you won’t see it.

   The way knifes are made is that the blacksmith make the blade, then sell it to a sharpener, who sell it to a re-seller, that assemble the knife and sell it. All steps are not done by the same “company” or in the same building (some might too). The store will often put their own name on the blade. To see blacksmith, the best bet is to go to a place known for it, like Sakai, Seki or Echizen. And even then, you cannot hope to just randomly walk into a shop and see them work, if you want to, you would have to research more and possibly get an appointment. I tried to do it in Sakai without much preparation and could not see anything even if I had address. I was later told that there is 2-3 that might be possible to visit, but they do not speak English, would be better to have an appointment and they don’t even sell the knife they make. Also, the fact that the blacksmith does not complete all the steps would be unrealistic to see them completely make the knive you will buy. I think there is places that offer workshop to make your own knife, so that may be a bit more the experience ou want… but the knife you end up with is made by you and not by a profesionnal.

   So, if you want to see blacksmith in action, dedicate a full day to visit one of the city I named and do more research on where and how you can see them work, or check for a workshop. Otherwise, just buy a knife in a store. Best option is to go in Kappabashi street in Tokyo, there is several stores that sell knife (I can think of at least 4-5 that only sell knife), visit a couple of them, check what type of knife you want, what type of steel, compare price.

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   Also JR Pass is easy. Add the cost of all JR trains you plan to take in 7 days and compare to the price of the Pass. The idea is to save money, it might be cheaper to buy individual tickets.

5. I’ve wrestled with my own itinerary a lot while waiting for our March trip. I ended up basing us in Kyoto and travelling to Osaka. There’s more to see in Kyoto, if you stay near Kyoto Station it’s easy, cheap and quick to get to anywhere in Osaka, and it avoids the disruption of moving all your luggage after a couple of days. I found super-cheap studios on Airbnb — PM me if you’re interested.

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   Another thing this sub has taught me: don’t over plan and less-is-more. Good mantras.

   It looks like you have a well thought out plan. Have a great time!

6. I would put Tokyo at the beginning and move Kansai later on for several reasons.

   Firstly, I think you’ll get the full impact of Tokyo’s scale more if you experience it first thing and then be able to kick back and enjoy the more relaxed pace of Kansai if you go there afterwards. Secondly, some of Kyoto’s major sights will still be in full Hatsumode swing until a good week or so after New Year’s day. This is a double edged sword because the festive atmosphere can be nice, but the crowds can make general sightseeing very difficult. Thirdly, and most importantly, the second week of January has some cool events in Kansai–namely Toka Ebisu in Kyoto from the 8th-12th and in Osaka from the 9th-11th (during the day and evenings).

   Usually as a starter Kansai itinerary I recommend about 3 days for Kyoto, 1 day for Osaka, 1 day for Nara, and 1 day for Himeji+Kobe just to give you time to touch on some of the highlights.

   See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/5wgxa1/best_way_to_group_these_sites_in_kyoto/dea059y/?context=3) for my general advice about arranging sights in Kyoto. There is so much more to Arashiyama than just the monkey park–you could easily spend a full day there. Kinkaku-ji is probably the most overrated temple in the entire city. I’m not saying you shouldn’t see it, but it’s always crowded, it’s not particularly convenient to get to, and on a visit that’s only 3 days I would prioritize other things much more highly. Higashiyama as a whole (Kyoto’s most famous sightseeing area) is completely absent from your itinerary except for Gion–I do not get this at all. Southern Higashiyama is usually a must-do, and northern-Higashiyama is arguably the nicest area of the entire city.

   Osaka Castle park is okay, but the castle itself is a concrete reconstruction and very underwhelming. Himeji (especially) and Hikone are both far better and within easy day trip distance of Kyoto or Osaka. Amemura/Triangle Park are very meh and not worth a detour. Shinsekai and Kuromon Market are conspicuously missing from your Osaka days–don’t skip them, especially if you’re looking for good, cheap food.

   Skipping Nara is a massive mistake. Todai-ji alone is worth the trip, but you should really budget most or all of a full day because there’s plenty to see there.

   I feel like day trips to Kawaguchiko is very questionable. It’s a resort town, and so much of the attraction of being there is sticking around and taking things slow, not rushing through it at a breakneck pace. If you just want to see Fuji, you’ll probably be able to see it from some of the taller buildings in Tokyo pretty clearly given that it’ll be January.

   >I had previously been told that it may be a good idea to base ourselves in either Kyoto or Osaka and travel between the two, but we’d rather be able to focus on the city we’re visiting and not have to take the extra time to commute between the two.

   I think this is a good approach. If you were to pick one to stay in, I would pick the one where you intend to spend the most time (which in most cases would be Kyoto).

   >Within each city, we would be taking local public transit (no rental cars), and we would be taking the bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto. I’ve seen conflicting / confusing information regarding the JR pass throughout r/JapanTravel, so I’m not really sure what to make of it.

   Plan your itinerary first and then decide if you should use a JR Pass. For this itinerary you’re unlikely to save much money with one, but it’s also entirely possible that you’ll save a tiny bit. If you added a day trip to Himeji, then you would be better off getting the JR Pass as long as your travel outside of Tokyo fits within 7 days. By far your biggest single domestic travel expense on this trip will be the round trip between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto, so if you’re in Kansai longer than the 7 day pass period you’ll be better off skipping the pass and just buying tickets.

   >My family is big on Disney parks, hence why we’re planning extra nights in Tokyo. Tokyo as a city has been somewhat overwhelming to research, so I’d love to hear what recommendations you have as far as things to do / incorporate into our time there beyond the parks and museums.

   Disneyland I feel is a waste. It seems more than a bit silly all the way to Japan to go to an American theme park. DisneySea is at least more unique to Japan, so if you’re going to spend time at Disney Parks I would do a day there and nothing else. Honestly doing both Kansai and Kanto in just 11 full days is already a lot without the addition of theme parks, so I really think you’ll be kicking yourself if you spend 2 full days at parks.

7. I’m not sure what others think, but I normally recommend finding a guided tour for Kyoto. My dad and great-aunt both came to visit me while I was living in Japan and this was the easiest way to take them around Kyoto to make sure they saw everything they wanted to in a short time and without worrying about finding the right bus.

8. You may find that flying between Tokyo and Osaka cheaper than the train, and certainly faster for the arrival.

   For some ideas on wagyu teppanyaki, check out the youtube channels by Aden Films or Food Explorer.