Hi folks, next week, sibling and I will be in Japan for the first time. We plan to start our days at 9am daily. Please suggest and/or critique our plans below. Thank you.
Wednesday (in Japan) Day 1: land in Haneda airport 5am morning.
– Please recommend transportation to Shinjuku Station. Our hotel is around there.
– Breakfast / Brunch @ Tsukiji Market
– People-watching at Shibuya Crossing
– Check in hotel
– Meiji Jingu
Thursday Day 2
– Breakfast
– Nakakise Street
– Senso-Ji Shrine
– Asakusa area
– Kaminarimon Gate
Friday Day 3 Daytrip to see a glimpse of Mt Fuji (haven’t booked transportation)
– Chureito Pagoda
– Lake Kawaguchi
– What else can I explore?
– Should I stay for 1 night or daytrip is enough?
Saturday Day 4
– Breakfast / brunch where?
– Ginza area
– Pokemon Center (ok to skip)
– Imperial Palace (ok to skip)
– Anything else to see or do?
Sunday Day 5
No plan yet. Any recommendations?
Monday Day 6 to Kyoto and I’ll depart from Osaka. Do I need JR pass? How did some people check the calculation to make sure it’s worth? Please share and don’t yell at me. I’ve tried to look into it, but overwhelmed. Thanks so much..
– Hotel by Kyoto station
– Nishiki or kuramon Market
– Walk the Ishibei-koji Lane to Kiyomizu-dera
– Gion area
– Anything else?
Tuesday Day 7
– Arashiyama Bamboo Grove early in the morning
– Hankyu minoo fall
– Golden Pavilion / Kinkaku-ji
– Gion area
– Anything else?
Wednesday Day 8
– Uji and Nara daytrip
Thursday Day 9
– To Osaka and hotel in Dotonbori
– Osaka Castle (just outside or worth the entrance?)
– Explore the hotel area
Friday Day 10
– Kobe. What are good places to have kobe beef?
Saturday Day 11
Please suggest what to do?
Sunday Day 12 depart from Osaka airport
What’s your favorite spot for: sushi, wagyu, beef, spa/osen in Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka?
Thanks again 🙏🏼
3 comments
Do I need JR pass? How did some people check the calculation to make sure it’s worth? Please share and don’t yell at me.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–Personally I suggest you can add a Suica card in iPhone wallet if you use IOS device. From Google Maps you will see the price for each line’s total fee and make sure you top up enough Yen in it. Notice that you shouldn’t top up too much at a time. ( i still have 520 Yen left when I came back and I don’t know the withdrawal )
You might want to move breakfast at Tsukiji to Day 2, as that is closer to Asakusa.
It doesn’t seem like it’ll be worth it for you to get the JR pass. The biggest expense will be Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, and then some other trips on local JR lines around Uji/Nara/Osaka, but those are inexpensive. But the cost of the JR pass for 14 days will be way more than what you’ll spend for one Shinkansen ticket and some local train/subway tickets. Not sure about transportation to Mt. Fuji, but I don’t think that would make it cost effective even if you take Shinkansen there and back to Tokyo.
You can use this calculator to add every trip you might take and it’ll tell you whether or not the JR Pass is cost-effective: [Calculator](https://www.japanstation.com/japan-rail-pass-value-calculator/)