Itinerary Check (July-August 2021, Tokyo – Nagano – Kansai – Hiroshima)

7 comments

1. Not sure about Yamanouchi during summer months. The weather is probably too hot for the monkeys to even be in the in the water. Consider instead checking out Togakushi shrine to the west of Nagano. It’s a super Instagrammable spot!

2. Your Kyoto day is pretty rough. The city isn’t as connected as Osaka or Tokyo, so you’ll have to rely on buses or lots of walking. You’re covering a lot of distance between the Golden Pavilion to Kiyomizu to Fushimi Inari. Plan on having an extra long day with plenty of rests in between or consolidate your trekking. Golden pavilion to Fushimi Inari took me almost an hour and that was with zero crowds. I imagine it’ll be much more packed with Olympic tourism.

3. No- nothing’s wrong with the itinerary! One question though– why are you staying in Osaka if you’re spending so much time in Kyoto? They are close but when in Kyoto you’ll be spending tons of time shlepping from one place to the other on the crowded buses (unless you want to shell out for taxis, which are super expensive in Japan), that you might not want the extra transit time in the morning/afternoon.

   This is a controversial opinion, but Osaka is not necessary to see in such a short trip! Yes there’s Dotonbori and good shopping/restaurants etc. but you can get most of that stuff in Tokyo! If you’re into seeing historical stuff/temples/shrines/geisha districts etc., spend as much time in Kyoto as possible! Your Nara & Osaka day also sounds like too much for one day! I agree it’s a good idea to check out a Japanese castle, but you’re already seeing one in Himeji

   Also in Kyoto, Nishiki Market is in Gion along with Yasaka Jinja (shrine), so you should check both of them out on the same day 🙂

   ***TLDR***: I’d base the Kansai region of your trip in Kyoto with a day trip to Nara and skip Osaka

   Also honestly I’d just skip Nagano city if I were you and go and enjoy (what I assume is) an onsen ryokan/washoku dinner and walking around a traditional Japanese town in Yudanaka- that will truly be a once in a lifetime experience 🙂

   Question 3- Tokyo Tips:

   Instead of Odaiba, you could see get rush seats to see a kabuki show in [Ginza](https://tokyocheapo.com/entertainment/cheap-kabuki-tickets-tokyo/) for 1600 yen, go to Shin Okubo (super cool Koreatown) or see a more traditional side of Tokyo in Shitamachi/Yanaka

   Kyoto Tips:

   – Philosopher’s path is a gorgeous walking path connected to the silver pavilion!

   – If you’re at all interested in the Japanese language/linguistics in general, there’s an awesome, quirky kanji museum in [Gion](https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b05601/kyoto%E2%80%99s-museum-for-kanji-lovers.html)

   Hiroshima Tips:

   – Eat okonomiyaki

4. 1. Day 5: there is absolutely no way you can fit in National Museum
   2. Switch day 7 and day 8 itineraries (to Jigokudani Monkey Park on day 7; Zenko-ji on day 8), and skip Olympic Museum, which really is not even a top 10 destination of Nagano (city) and is located in a very awkward place. Do note that outside winter, or early spring, your chances of catching monkeys in action are slim.
   3. Your Kyoto plans are pretty bad planning: you can start with Fushimi Inari and then do Higashiyama/Nishiki Market/Gion on day 9; and visit Tojo, Arashiyama and Kinkaku-ji on day 9; National Museum is perfectly skippable, if there aren’t any interesting exhibitions around.
   4. Osaka Castle is just a big and very bad concrete reconstruction, visiting Shitenno-ji or Osaka Museum of Housing and Living would make much more sense, unless you are very interested in a life of Hideyoshi Toyotomi.

   As to your questions: most of your Tokyo and both Kyoto days could be viewed as quite hectic in normal circumstances.

5. My overall view: it seems like you have a pretty darn solid itinerary. Nice job!

   I’ll just cover a few specific things.

   1) Akihabara: You listed this as something to pop in if you “have time.” My main question would be, how interested are you in Akihabara? If you have some penchant for geek culture (broadly) whether that be video games, anime, figurines etc., then Akihabara is an absolute must see in Tokyo. If you don’t and you have it as a consideration only to sort of see the spectacle then I would likely skip it. Personally, I *love* Akihabara, that said, since it’s more of a small district than a specific site, I would only go if you can take at least 3 hours, preferably 4-5. Just popping in for an hour wouldn’t give you much opportunity to really soak in the place. Between the three things you have on that day prior to the swimming event my advice would be to pick two and enjoy them to the fullest. Edit: I just read the last paragraph of your post, honestly if Akihabara interests *you* then I would suggest splitting up for part of the day and seeing Akihabara and have your Dad rest or do something else. Based on your limited description I would guess that he would likely get very little to nothing out of Akihabara.

   2) For day 9 in Kyoto, this is a little on the ambitious side, but not overly so. I guess the question I would have here is to ask how hearty of travellers/hikers you are. Note that it will be *hot* when you are there, so a day like this can quickly get overwhelming. I’d give the general advice on your trip to just be prepared for a lot of walking, and the possibility of overheating. Bring great shoes and always keep a pack for water/Pocari Sweat. Back to Day 9, if you leave Osaka pretty early (think 7:30/8) you *could* do all three of these attractions. But honestly, and this might surprise you, I would actually recommend cutting Kinkakuji of the three main attractions. Kinkakuji, from the two times I have visited, is packed with tourists, and is a little underwhelming. The golden temple itself is lovely, but the whole place feels a little like a rat maze, where you’re just walking along these prescribed routes. Kiyomizaderu is wonderful, and with the long walk up to the entrance of the complex itself, combined with how huge the whole area is, it can easily be a 3-4 hour adventure, and is well worth it! Unlike Kinkakuji Kiyomizaderu is more of a temple complex with dozens of temples and buildings to check out. Fushimi Inari is my absolute favorite place in Kyoto, and similarly, is a place where you will benefit from spending more time. If you and your Dad are relatively hearty hikers I would recommend taking the time to walk to the top of Mount Inari. From arriving at the station to returning to the station near Fushimi Inari, I would budget 3-4 hours *if* that interests you, mainly because with the heat you would want to take lots of breaks on the way up. Fushimi Inari is such a feast for the senses, and as you go higher up the mountain the crowds thin out significnatly.

   3) Lastly, and this is more just personal advice as someone who has traveled with my parents a few times as an adult. Plan to take some time alone at various points along the trip. If there are things you are more interested in, go do them! And it could likely spare your mental health. It’s easy to get cooped up while doing this sort of travel. If you are more interested in Ryokan/soaking, split up some evening and go check out a highly rated sento, or if you’re a gamer, a game center, if those activities wouldn’t float your Dad’s boat.

6. Good job on pulling these together! I can imagine how overwhelming, but thrilling I hope, the research would have been.

   Some thoughts based on my trip last yr during Golden Week:

   – Kyoto – Agree with other commenters on Kinkakuji (beautiful temple tho) on how packed it is (like everyone is on queue from entrance until exit lol) and out of the way from other temples. There’s Ginkakuji, although out of the way too, but this is more spacious, more to see and have nicer view then you can continue for a relaxed walk along the Philospher’s Path. Personally, I would suggest do Fushimi Inari first (early morning), then travel up to Kiyomizudera for lunch until sunset, then spend the evening in Gion. If you still have energy, you can consider checking the lit up Yasaka shrine at night. For other days, it might help to concentrate by district or two close district to save bus/subway travel time. Also, I assume you’ve considered extra allowance time when visiting temples/shrine (even for museum I guess) as there would most likely be a long queue or long walk from bus/subway station.

   – Nara-Osaka – Similarly mentioned, this day is very packed and if only seeing the Nara park, it might be worth checking Todaiji temple (large buddha). There’s a lot of walking here, unless you take the day bus, which then ends up with some waiting time. Osaka castle is good too, but since you’ll be visiting Himeji, this can be skipped.

   – Miyajima-Hiroshima – Miyajima is my favorite after Kyoto as as the island has a very relaxing magical feel to it lol and regret staying only overnight. Hopefully not a deal breaker, I think the torii at Itsukushima shrine might still be under construction. For a day trip, to include Mount Misen might be too much especially in summer. There is an option to use the Miyajima Ropeway, but there’s probably a long queue/wait to get a ticket. If you’re after a nice top view of the island, consider checking Daisho-in temple as there’s lots to see there, even more than Itsukushima. I would highly suggest staying at least one night, as there’s a super long queue on the last trip of the ferry.

   Hopefully, these help 🙂

7. I’m super late but just thought I’d chime in on the Edo-Tokyo Museum – it’s a really, *really* cool museum, but it is big; we spent about three hours in there and I still don’t feel like we well and truly saw everything. It’s also a bit of a ways out from the aquatics centre. I’m not sure where the houses are though so I can’t comment on that.