I stumbled across a flight redemption to Japan (35k points economy United) for August 8th. So I’m just starting to plan now, I ran a prompt through GPT asking what should I do and thought I would ask you guys for other suggestions. I’m not firm with a day to day schedule yet so I’m more so interested in just a list of places you recommend/ amount of days to stay in the city, if possible.
I’m also curious do you think USJ/ Disney Sea is worth it? Ill be going with my girlfriend our interest rank as
1. FOOD
2. Nature
3. Anime
This is what the robot overlords suggested let me know what you guys think! I can already tell you days 25-30 are a bit unrealistic. Our original plan was 3 weeks so im not sure what to do with the extra days at the end… Any advice would be greatly appreciated. But besides that the trip looks good ofc not everything listed under a city will be done.
**Tokyo (7 days) (Suggestions for a base location would be greatly appreciated!)**
Day 1 (August 8): Depart from the US.
Day 2 (August 9): Arrive in Tokyo, Japan. Check in to your hotel, relax, and adjust to the jet lag.
Days 3-7 (August 10-14): Explore Tokyo. Suggested sights: Asakusa, Akihabara, Shibuya Crossing, Shinjuku, Meiji Shrine, Tsukiji Fish Market, Ueno Park, Odaiba, and Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea.
**Day Trip: Nikko (Day trip)**
Day 8 (August 15): Day trip to Nikko. Visit Toshogu Shrine, Nikko National Park, and the picturesque Kegon Waterfall.
**Hakone (3 days)**
Days 9-11 (August 16-18): Head to Hakone. Enjoy the hot springs (onsen), visit the Hakone Open-Air Museum, and take a sightseeing cruise on Lake Ashi.
**Kyoto (5 days)**
Days 12-16 (August 19-23): Travel to Kyoto. Visit Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kiyomizu-dera, Ginkaku-ji, Kinkaku-ji, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, and Kyoto Imperial Palace.
**Day Trip: Nara (Day trip)**
Day 17 (August 24): Day trip to Nara. Visit Todaiji Temple, Nara Park, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, and Naramachi.
**Osaka (3 days) (3 days)**
Days 18-20 (August 25-27): Travel to Osaka. Explore Dotonbori, Universal Studios Japan, Osaka Castle, and the Umeda Sky Building.
**Hiroshima (2 days)**
Days 21-22 (August 28-29): Travel to Hiroshima. Visit the Peace Memorial Park, Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island, and Hiroshima Castle.
**Tokyo (2 days)**
Day 23-24 (August 30-31): Travel back to Tokyo, relax and explore anything you may have missed in the city.
**Hokkaido (5 days)**
Day 25-29 (September 1-5): Fly to Hokkaido. Enjoy the nature in Furano and Biei, and explore Sapporo city.
Day 30 (September 6): Fly back from Hokkaido to Tokyo and catch your flight back to the US.
10 comments
For DisneySea/USJ, I like Disneyland so I think it’s worth it, but keep in mind that it will be busy and the queues will be long. So if you don’t have a strong interest in going then you may walk away frustrated.
Hakone – There isn’t a lot to do there so 3 days might be 1 day too much unless you are happy to just sit and relax.
Kyoto/Nara/Osaka – You have around 9 days here which feels long based on what you have. There are a lot of days trips you can do but maybe consider adding another stop.
Hokkaido – After Hiroshima go straight to Hokkaido instead of via Tokyo. You should be able to fly there from Hiroshima or Osaka.
I wouldn’t do three days for Hakone. You can do this whole trip with a one night stay. Arrive early, go to the places you wanna see, head back to your onsen and relax, eat, and maybe go see some other stuff, and then the next day you can go look see anything else you want to do. If you just wanna wind down, then by all means stay for three days and enjoy the onsens.
I can suggest a day trip to Nagano and Chusha. Absolutely beautiful and Chusha is pretty far from the beaten tourist path.
Fuck Odaiba and all that Disney crap. I’m exhausted now but comment back and I’ll give you some of the real deal recs.
I did both Disney Sea and USJ last month. My personal thoughts:
– Disney Sea felt a little devoid of the Disney magic (when compared to Disneyland in CA). Hard to put a finger on why. It felt like there wasn’t a lot of life. Lots of food stalls were not open, some rides were still closed from the Covid era, and overall it didn’t feel like there was a lot of life.
– USJ was a lot of fun for Super Nintendo World alone. Also did Harry Potter World briefly and enjoyed it. Ride a couple other rides.
Glad I did both but I preferred USJ.
I’m just at the end of a month in Japan and I would highly highly recommend getting off the beaten track in Nagano and Gifu prefectures. I spent about two weeks in the mountains up there doing the Nakasendo Trail and seeing places like Kamikochi, Takayama, Shirakawa go, Gero. Even Matsumoto is lovely. Kanazawa is also great.
Being up there and seeing the mountains drenched in clouds and going through all the post towns with little to no other tourists was the best thing I’ve ever done in Japan. I went to Kyoto for the first time in about 8 years directly afterwards and was shocked at the amount of people everywhere (still a must see!) but I could barely handle it there.
My wife and I really enjoyed disneysea. I thought it was unique with a lot of cool rides. I would recommend going if you enjoy themeparks.
Guess I’ll have to cancel my three-day spa appointment then. Thanks for saving me time AND money!
It’s looks like most of your itineraries are outdoor, while it’s good for general time of the year but August is going to be humid and hot as hell, it will hover around 33-35 at peak, while average day not lower than 30℃.
So my advice is to exclude any long outdoor activities and put some balance for indoor + nature (forest, mountain etc). For example, you don’t have to go to Disneyland / USW, not only august a summer vacation, which means insane crowd, and it’s going to be very hot and you may not enjoy the experience. Look for more summer activities is my best advice.
For Kyoto, tbh you itinerary can be done in a day. I have a day trip to Kyoto before, and managed to visit most of the hot temples and shire, excluding Arashiyama. I think if you do not want to be that rush, 2 full days should be more than enough for your Kyoto itinerary. Same for Hakone too.
Also, shades shades shades. Many foreigner underestimate Japan’s summer heat and ending up not enjoying their stay because they are less prepared. Bring hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, buy some cold spray and a tumbler to store cold water.
Guess I’ll have to cancel my seven-day onsen marathon, thanks for saving me from becoming a prune!