Hi everyone, I posted an incomplete itinerary check before although it was incomplete I got a lot of good information so I wanted to finish the base of the plan and get a check to see if we are maybe overdoing it by planning too many things or maybe places to avoid in the area as well as hidden gems to check out that are in the area. I do know that there is no guarantee that Japan will open its borders to foriegn tourists I have already bought the tickets for the six of us but I did buy tickets so that we are able to change the date if needed. Although the itinerary is not fully complete I just wanted to get some opinions on how it is. For **Ikebukuro, Odaiba, Shibuya, Mitaka/Shinjuku, and Akihabara** I’ve planned specific places to check out but for the others like Gion District and Dotonbori, I plan on us just checking out the area and exploring.
Day 0 **July 17th**: 8:00 Wake up at – Last minute packing – 8:30 Meet up with everyone – 8:30 Drive to LAX – 9:30 Arrive at LAX – Get through Airport Check-In – 1:10 Take Off – **end**
Day 1 **July 18th**: 4:30 Land Narita Airport – Get through customs – Take a Shinkansen to Osaka – Arrive at Osaka Hotel – **end**
Day 2 **July 19th**: Osaka Castle – Namba Yasaki Shrine – Shinsekai – **end**
Day 3 **July 20th**: America-mura – Dontonbori – **end**
Day 4 **July 21st**: 9:00 Universal Studios 8:00 – **end**
Day 5 **July 22nd**: Tenjinbashisuji Shotengai – Rest
Day 6 **July 23rd**: Nishiki Market/Gion District
Day 7 **July 24th**: Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama/Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
Day 8 **July 25th**: Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine
Day 9 **July 26th**: Hakone Onsen Ryokan
Day 10 **July 27th**: Hakone – Shinkansen to Tokyo
Day 11 **July 28th**: Ikebukuro
Day 12 **July 29th**: Odaiba
Day 13 **July 30th**: Shibuya – Takeshita Street
Day 14 **July 31st**:Mitaka/Shinjuku
Day 15 **August 1st**: Akihabara
Day 16 **August 2nd**: 9:05 Leave at Haneda Airport
**Ikebukuro** Evangelion Store – Sunshine Outlet – Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo – Planetarium – Observation Deck
**Odaiba** TeamLab Planets – Decks – Tokyo Joypolis – Wax Museum – Divercity Plaza – TeamLab Borderless – Fuji Television Tower
**Shibuya** Hachikō Memorial Statue – Shibuya Scramble Crossing – Katsumidori Seibu Shibuya – MEGA Don Quijote Shibuya – Shibuya Parco – Takeshita Street
**Mitaka/Shinjuku** Ghibli Museum- Kabukichō – Omoide-Yokochō
**Asakusa/TokyoSkyTree** Nakamise Street – Senso-ji Temple – Asakusa Underground Mall – Tokyo Skytree
**Akihabara** GiGO Akihabara 4 – Akihabara Radio Kaikan – Akihabara Gamers – Kotobukiya – Super Potato – Akiba Cultures Zone – Bic Camera – Mandarake – Gyukatsu Ichi Ni San
6 comments
Is it possible to fly straight into Osaka? Your current plan involves 3-4 additional hours of travel, excluding the effort involved of transferring trains. I’ve found it much less tiring to go straight to my first destination rather than forcing myself through Tokyo.
Next, your Hakone to Tokyo leg can be done on the Romance car, instead of the Shinkansen. It’s cheaper and only slightly slower. It’s terminal is in Shinjuku, so would be more convenient if that’s where you’re accommodation is.
Looks like your guys are into Japanese pop culture. If so, you should drop by Nakano Broadway. It’s along the same train line as Ghibli museum, so it’s an easy stop on that day.
This is this year, right?
That’s fine, they’re going to start welcoming tourists on 10 June.
July and August are the time of summer festivals. Kyoto has the Gion Festival and Osaka the Tenjin Festival.
24 July is the Gion Festival post-festival in Kyoto, 23 and 25 July is the Tenjin Festival in Osaka. The parade and finale.
This year, the Gion Festival will also host the Tenjin Festival, probably.
I don’t think you can afford to miss this.
First I would check to get a multi-city flight, fly in Osaka and out of Tokyo. Do it even if it cost the equivalent of 15 000 yen more (you will save it on the shinkansen). This would especially make sense since LAX have direct flights to Osaka.
I think that the first par in Osaka/Kyoto is quite empty. I would suggest that you put markers on a Google map to see what options would make most sense on each day, but here are some options I can think of.
Day 2 : Shitenno-ji temple, Abeno Harukas observation deck.
Day 3 : Denden town, Kuromon ichiba market
Day 5 : Osaka tenman-gu shrine, shopping around Osaka-Umeda station, Hep Five ferris wheel, Umeda Sky building observation deck.
Day 6 : Higashiyama in general, Yasaka-jinja, Kodai-ji, Ninenzaka, Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka pagoda.
Day 7 : Tenryu-ji, Sagano scenic railway, boat on the river
Day 8 : I mean honestly, go early to Fushimi Inari-Taisha to beat the crowd and do something else of the rest of the day. Could easily return around Higashiyama if you missed something there, or go a bit mor north, like Heian-jingu, Nanzen-ji, Philosopher’s path, Ginkaku-ji, or something else like Nijo castle, or Railway museum. One other option if you go early enough, and can be in the train around 11am, then it’s realistic to get in the train to go to Nara for lunchtime and have the afternoon to at least go in the park see the deer and check Todai-ji.
Hakone, same idea, there is lot of things to do, just check [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html) and the recommended itinerary here [https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/](https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/) It could be a good idea to take the Hakone Free pass. And going to Tokyo on the Romancecar likely make more sense. Also, there is an Evangelion store in Hakone… because Tokyo-3 is geographically located in Hakone. [https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/spot/304](https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/spot/304)
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Ikebukuro, what observation deck, in Sunshine 60 ? Honestly, change it to Shibuya Sky when you go to Shibuya. Can add Animate Ikebukuro, that is their biggest store, it’s even surprising you did not list it in Akihabara.
Odaiba, teamLab Borderless is closing this year at the end of august, so it will only be possible if tourism open his year and that is still unsure as they just started trials with tour group.
Shibuya day, as you included something in Harajuku, you could consider starting the day at Meiji-jingu, because stores are only opening at 10 or 11am, so you can go to the shrine before that.
Mitaka/Shinjuku, you could consider a stop by Nakano broadway between the two of you are only interested in the nightlife aspect of Shinjuku.
Mitaka/Shinjuku Ghibli Museum- Kabukichō – Omoide-Yokochō
Asakusa the plan is ok… but you did not assigned it to any of your date.
Akihabara, same idea, stores will open around 10-11am, so you could always walk to Kanda-Myojin first before hitting the stores in Akihabara.
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As someone else mentioned festivals, you could move Shinjuku day to match with Shinjuku Eisa, that is a dance event [https://shinjuku-eisa.com/](https://shinjuku-eisa.com/)
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Generally speaking it seems to work, I just find the Osaka-Kyoto part to be too light. I think it can be a good idea to have more options in reserve, just enjoy what you are doing and don’t try to do everything if you don’t think you have time.
Do domestic flight and not use the train. It’s much cheaper
I think your schedule looks pretty solid.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the people telling you to take a domestic flight. You certainly could do that, but you’re fine just taking the train.
Will you get the JR pass? You’re in Kansai juuuust too long to use the 7-day, so you would have to get a 14. This would be about $100 USD more than you would spend on train tickets separately. On the other hand, I think it’s possible for you to condense your schedule either in Osaka or Kyoto and free up a day – this would let you take a daytrip somewhere, like Himeji. It isn’t far, but it does get you much closer to equity with a JR pass.
In any case, I suggest you come up with one or two ideas for day trips while you’re in Kansai so you have something in case you find you manage to do two days of activities in one.
Anyway, you should check train tickets prices and compare against a JR pass but I don’t think it would be beneficial for you.
Couple of minor tips:
I personally would do the shinkansen on day 2 rather than day 1, and swap your day 2/3. This will allow you to have that exciting first night not rushing around avoid some of the busier times on the shinkansen, and the next morning you’ll get to see Fuji from the train.
Book refundable hotels now. I personally think your chances of this trip happening are low, but if you do live in hope, hotels are very cheap now and you’ll likely get a bargain compared to booking after general tourism is allowed in.
For an Eva fan, check out small worlds tokyo on your odaiba trip for a cool minature model of tokyo-3, as well as the evangelion store at hakone.