Itinerary check – 14 days in August

2 comments

1. Trip comment

   – I think overall you cover all the major areas – pacing is not overly hectic. You allow 2 areas in a day which is ideal

   – I know you mentioned you hate listing a ton of place – however, I recommend at least having come up with options (Versus no option at the moment). Because, Shinjuku itself is very big and is like a small city. You need to have a game plan / do a rough route. For instance, Shinjuku Goen, Tokyo Kabukicho, Godzilla Head. In Ginza: Art Aquarium Museum, UNIQLO store, MUJI store, etc.

   – Because your time is fairly limited (say 3-4 hours in an area). If you don’t at least plan what you want to see – you risk not catching the highlights of what you want to see (say you want to spend time at Final Fantasy cafe, or that Crane game you want to try, etc).

   – Sky Tree might be redundant if you visit Shibuya Sky. I recommend getting a tickets for Shibuya Sky in advance

   —–

   Your questions:

   Questions:

   *Is it worth it on 8/10 to do the other temples? I’m not a big architecture person so if one is substantially better/more exciting I would be fine to nix the others. Would you replace with anything else?*

   **Kinkakuji is one of the temples that seeing the photo online is as good as it gets. The area is very small and it is extremely busy. I would not make this a priority unless you are set to check it out. The travel here also takes a while (hard to reach).**

   If I were you, I would just focus on Kiyomizu Dera in the morning and make your way on Philosopers Path to Ginkakuzi.

   *When using Suica, are you charged when exiting the gate? I live somewhere without a similar public system so I’m not sure how it works.*

   **You tap suica when you enter and when you exit. It calculates the fare based on the distance.**

   *It looks like the cost of individual tickets including shinkansen tickets is near-equivalent to a JR pass. Do you think it’s OK/advisable to just buy individual tickets based on Google Maps telling me where to go?*

   **Based on your route, I think it is even cheaper to buy individiually using SmartEX App / Website. 21-day economy ticket is 12,000Y, and 3-day advance green class is 15,000Y IIRC.**

   *What do you advise doing with luggage on travel days where I am going to be still in the previous location (ex. the day I want to do teamLabs in the morning but travel to Kyoto in the afternoon)? Should I dissolve the plans into another day and leave the travel day just for travel?*

   **Never let luggage slow you down! You can leave at hotel – or even better, just ship it to the next hotel 2 days in advance (for a nominal fee like $25 per luggage). This way, you dont have to worry about lugging around luggage around busy station**

   *Any areas to add that I should look into?*

   **On 8/14, not sure if you plan to shop in Osaka and go through it in detail – but you can go to Nara in the morning and return in the afternoon for Dotonbori / Tonbori river cruise.**

   **If you are interested in coffee – there is the Dawn Robot Cafe, Hatt coffee (3D coffee), Starbucks Roastery Reserve in Tokyo.**

   **Food wise, you need to do a bit more research here – there is a ton of food experience in Japan other than just ramen and sushi. How about a yakitori restaurant (Yakitori Omino, reversable via Omakase), teppanyaki overlooking Tokyo tower (Teppanyaki Asakasa at Intercontinental), myriad of anime cafe like Pokemon/Kirby cafe, Japanesse BBQ at the renowned Ebisu Yoroniku or Jambo Hanare, etc.**

2. About luggage. If you are traveling to Kyoto via Shinkansen, you can deposit it in a locker at the departing train station before going to team lab.
   Depending on the size but it’s about 400-800yen.