Itinerary check: 6 day Tokyo

5 comments

1. Depending on when you are going if you don’t already have tickets for Ghibli you may not get to go. They sell them online three months in advance and tickets go quickly. You can’t just show up and buy tickets to go in. You can stay as long as you like but you can’t go into the museum before your set time. Even in Japan you have to buy your tickets a month in advance from 7-11 not at the museum.

   If you are going to be in Harajuku you should go check out Yoyogi park and Majin shrine.

   There is also a national park near Shibuya that is really nice. There is an entrance fee but it’s small like ¥300.

   Ueno park is awesome! There are six museums, a zoo (one of my favorites) and at least two shrines. The natural history museum there has the original Hachiko (he was stuffed after his death) on display.

   Enjoy your trip!

2. My personal take having lived in Tokyo for a year and visited 4 times.

   Food at Disneyland is not too overpriced.

   If temples are not a priority you could swap Kamakura for Asakusa to get a lesser version (which is also very close to Ueno as a bonus).

   Kamakura more rural and calmer than Tokyo, but takes 1hr+ to get there.

   There’s a decent aquarium in Ikebukuro, other than that I don’t really see any reason to go there instead of somewhere else in Tokyo.

   Keep in mind it will be extremely hot and humid, if you are not used to this weather or struggle with heat then less is more.

   You can enjoy many things in Tokyo even around a small area, or one area per day. I would be exhausted going to Kamakura and then Shimokita after 🥵

   In the end I guess it all depends on how genki you are and what your priorities are 😉

   Happy to help if you need any more advice.

3. Couple of comments from me:

   – Odaiba and Shibuya can definitely mix. Consider the attractions there: Teamlabs, Joypolis, Diver city, Gundam store. Odaiba can also mix with Tsukiji if you are interested in that

   – There are temples in Tokyo that strangely you dont include in your trip like SensoJi in Asakusa. There other shrines too like Meiji shrines if you are into those. You can probably skip Kamakura unless there is a burning sight you want to see. Day 6 should not be an issue in the morning.

   – The itinerary looks somewhat leisurely in my opinion – looks good!

   –

4. Combining Kamakura with Shimokitazawa is a lot. It’ll take you an hour to get there from Shinjuku and another hour and a half to get back to Shimokita (including several train changes). It just seems like a waste of time if you’re only going to spend a few hours there. I would either devote a whole day to Kamakura (combined with Enoshima) or drop it.

   Like another poster said, if you’re not super into temples, but just want to see one while you’re here, go to Asakusa.

   It makes much more sense to stop by Shimokitazawa on your way to Shibuya from Kichijoji (Ghibli Musuem)…it’s literally a stop along the train line you’ll have to take.

   Of course, then you’ll have to spend less time in Shibuya…but Shibuya doesn’t really need six hours imo, unless you’re really into shopping. And even then you’re coming back on day 5 anyway, so you could see whatever you missed the first time around.

   Odaiba is being redeveloped, and a lot of the attractions there have been closed and/or are being relocated. TeamLab Planets is open, but it’s not as good as Borderless imo. But you can check the website and see if it’s something you’d still be interested in. Other than, there isn’t much to do in Odaiba besides shopping.

   It’s only a half hour from Shibuya so you could certainly combine the two…but I think there’s a lot of other neighborhoods in Tokyo that would be more worthwhile to check out.

5. Does day 1 imply you are landing in Tokyo and then going out for 7 hours? That’s bold.