Itinerary Check Tokyo>Kyoto>Hiroshima/Miyajima>Osaka

3 comments

1. OK, so, a couple of things…

   TeamLab may or may not be open, it’s moving from the Tokyo Bay location to somewhere in Central Tokyo, not 100% sure where

   Tsukiji Fish Market closed in 2018 and the fish auctions moved to Toyusu, there’s still the outer markets at Tsukiji

   Check out Senso-ji near Tokyo Tower

   Do Akihabara on one of the days in Tokyo, not the day of Hakone/Mt. Fuji

   Spend a night in Hakone and check out the Hakone Pass, then head to Kyoto from there, there’s no point going all the way back to Tokyo and then Kyoto.

   You’ll need at least two or three days in Kyoto, make sure you check out Higashiyama to see all the old buildings and try and see Fushimi Inari-Taisha (thousand torii gates)

   Nara could easily be a side trip from Kyoto or Osaka, bare in mind that Osaka, Kyoto and Nara are only about half an hour apart from each other.

   Between Kyoto and Hiroshima, you could easily stop somewhere along the way like Kobe or Himeji

   ​

   Now, here’s some other advice I give to people when they tell me they’re visiting Japan for the first time:

   * Look into internet access, your two options are either a SIM card or portable wifi router, I used the latter, you can rent one at any major airport and post it back when you’re done.
   * Look into banking, be aware that Japan is still mostly a cash based society, EFTPOS and PayWave isn’t as common as in the west though this is changing due to Covid. Most Japanese ATMs don’t accept foreign cards and for some inexplicable reason, they don’t operate 24/7. However, you should be ok with 7-Eleven ATMs, I was also OK with Family Mart ATMs, I didn’t try Lawson, but Conbinis (convenience stores) are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Alternatively, you could load up a SUICA or ICOCA card with credit, it’s used like Paywave in many places.
   * Look into rail passes to get bullet trains between cities and either a SUICA or ICOCA for local public transport. You can buy both before you arrive in Japan, possibly even at the same time. Look into whether it’s worth buying a nationwide JR pass, a regional pass, or just one way tickets each time. With a bit of research, you can find out what’s the best value for money, there’s plenty of JR pass calculators online that can tell you if it’s worth it, though bare in mind JR pass prices are increasing by a stupidly high amount soon.
   * Two kanji you really should know beforehand is 男 (male/man) and 女 (female/woman), this is so you don’t walk into the wrong toilet or board a wrong train carriage (there’s female only carriages on some trains)
   * Bring extra deodorant, just trust me on that one, I ran out and I couldn’t find antiperspirant deodorant like Rexona or Nivea anywhere, it’s surprisingly hard to find, Asians don’t sweat like other races do.
   * Get an umbrella, take one with you or buy one.
   * Watch/listen to Abroad in Japan on YouTube or podcasts for loads of sage advice.

2. I would head down to Fukuoka too after Hiroshima and maybe a day trip to Okayama

3. Seems like a perfectly good itinerary overall.

   Hakone is a complete day with a lot of walking – I think there’s no real chance you get back to Tokyo at the end of it and decide you want start hitting up Akihabara. No real sense going to to Tokyo from there anyway – might as well keep going straight to Kyoto from Hakone.

   I, personally, would take time from Osaka and put it somewhere else. Osaka is a nice city – but you’re already spending a lot of time in megacities and it’s not a more exciting place than Tokyo. Nara can easily fill a complete day and more time could be spent doing stuff in Kyoto. Or, there are a lot of nice places you could day-trip to from Tokyo (Nikko and Kamakura jump to mind), or maybe stop by on the way between Hiroshima and Osaka (Himeji? Okayama? Maybe Onomichi/the islands there, if you feel like getting off the main tourist route?).