I have so many question but first here is the plan I have.
(EDIT: making changes from the comments, thanks for the help everyone!)
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|day 0|day 1|day 2|day 3|day 4|day 5|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|arrive at Tokyo|Ghibli Museum|Disneyland|TeamLab|Shibuya Crossing|Aokigahara Forest|
|check in the hotel|Meiji Jingu Gaien Batting||joypolis|shibuya sky|lake kawaguchiko|
|chill|National Art Center||wagyo mafia|harajuku|ichiran ramen|
||mitaka wakasa sushi|||parco||
|||||mita honten||
​
​
|day 6|day 7|day 8|day 9|day 10|day 11|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Toyosu Fish Market|DisneySea|poop museum|Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden|ramen museum|Yamato no Yu|
|asakusa||hitachi seaside|kabukicho tower|akihabara|chill near the hotel and just stroll the area|
|Senso-ji Temple||muscle girl bar|mega|animate||
|kappabashi||SEGA Ikebukuro GIGO|super potato|namco||
|t\_nakameguro|||(this day all in shinjuku+-)|Taito Hey (optional)||
​
​
|day 12|day 13|day 14|day 15|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Arrive at Osaka|Universal Studios|Osaka Castle|Aquarium Kaiyukan|
|Check in the hotel||Dotonbori|Dotonbori|
|Umeda Sky Building||KitKat World||
|(chill in Umeda)||||
​
​
|day 16|day 17|day 18|day 19|day 20|day 21|day 22|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Arrive at Kyoto|Arashiyama Bamboo Grove|Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)|Fushimi Inari Taisha|Kichi Kichi Omurice|Cake Museum|Kinosaki Onsen|
|Check in the hotel|Tenryu-ji Temple|Ryoan-ji Temple|train to Nara|Arashiyama Hirobun|Nakatanidou|Go Home|
|Kiyomizu-dera|Togetsukyo Bridge||Nara Park||take train to Kinosaki Onsen||
|Higashiyama district|||Todai-ji Temple||||
||||Kasuga Taisha Shrine||||
​
This plan was made by my searching and using ChatGPT and Bards help.
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My questions:
1. Should I really do both Disney parks?
2. I’m a big guy, 140Kg and 1.8Meter tall, how badly should I be worried and will I fit in the parks attractions?
3. I need to buy a new phone, I want to get Sony Xperia any recommendation about a store for unblocked one I could use in my country?
4. I do understand about how E-SIM works but should I get one when I arrive of beforehand?
5. JR Pass? Suica? recommendation traveling inside the city?
6. Change anything in the order of the days?
7. The onsen in day 11, will I be there all day? do people enjoy all day in such an activity? also recommendation for a different or another one in more rural place would be helpful.
8. I don’t plan being a lot in a hotel, I don’t need meals in the hotel, recommendation for any hotels?Answer: usually not included anyways.
9. Should I take 1 hotel in each city or for instance in Tokyo should I be moving?Answer: unless I plan on a night life and want a hotel close by so I can walk to I should change hotels.
10. Because I want to arrive around the 10th to 20th in October, are there any festivals? Halloween in the parks or Shibuya?
11. Any festival or cons I should go around the time I plan to visit?
12. I don’t want to carry huge amount of cash with me but withdraw each time a sum to carry for each day, can I do that with VISA card as a foreigner?Answer: VISA will work fine and I should deposit a good amount so I won’t have a lot deposits, to make sure I need to contact my bank.
13. Do the train stations have English in them, this is the most?
14. Anything in my plans you want to suggest to remove or to add anything would be welcomed
I also plan after Tokyo going to Osaka, after this post I will make plans for there and probably will share for opinions.
6 comments
if you can dress as a princess in Disney then go for it
If you understand how esim work you would understand that it does not matter because there is no physical item, as long as you make it start when you are in Japan and not before (as you would not use it), does not really matter.
JR pass you only buy to save money, that does not seems to be your case, local train is cheap and does not justify JR pass high price. Suica or Pasmo just make payment much easier so yes would recommend, even if you use a JR pass as you are likely going to une non-JR transport too.
Onsen is not a full day activity, you spend 15-20 minutes in hot water then will want to relax out of the water. No experience with this specific place, but some onsen you would not be able to spend much more than half an hour, max I spent in one was probably 2h, but they had more than one bath, a sauna, refreshments and snacks, that was also the most luxurious onsen I went to.
Hotels do not usually have meals included, maybe appart breakfast in some places, no need to change hotel within a city, unless you want to experience nightlife in different area and be able to walk back after last train.
Yes you can get cash from the ATM, but I would not do that daily, maybe 50 000 each time and try to use credit card in stores to avoid having to withdraw too often.
Search the city, month and festival or matsuri and you should be able to find stuff.
First thing I might mention, but this is more personal taste, is that some of your days seem pretty packed. I really prefer to not plan this much. I like having about a half days worth of planning, and then having plenty of time to just be able to go and check out what ever looks interesting to me while there. Feels much less like you are just marking off a checklist. But again, this is personal preference for me.
Also be aware that ChatGPT has been known to make less than ideal plans. I’m not familiar with some of the stuff in your itinerary, and I don’t particularly want to look it all up, but be sure to check and make sure everything you plan to do in a day actually makes sense.
>The onsen in day 11, will I be there all day? do people enjoy all day in such an activity? also recommendation for a different or another one in more rural place would be helpful.
Not familiar with this particular onsen, but I would recommend checking out Kinosaki Onsen. It is a rural hot spring village on the coast northwest of Kyoto. Was easily my favorite place in Japan, and I am dreaming of the day I get to go back. If you are to do it, spend at least 1 night there.
>Because I want to arrive around the 10th to 20th in October, are there any festivals? Halloween in the parks or Shibuya?
Went to Halloween in Shibuya in 2016 and it was absolutely wild. There is going to be people of all nationalities all over the place, it will be crowded and crazy, but should be a lot of fun if that is your scene.
>I don’t want to carry huge amount of cash with me but withdraw each time a sum to carry for each day, can I do that with VISA card as a foreigner?
I had absolutely no problem withdrawing from one of my accounts with my Visa card. Can’t make any promises for yours though. My card actually reimburses ATM fees which was amazing for this. There are ATMs in pretty much every convenience store.
Poop Museum is in Odaiba, which is where Joypolis and Teamlabs is.
Aokigahara is a pain to get to, you’ll be doing alot of transportation changes.
Meiji Jingu on day 1 then Harajuku (I’m assuming Takeshita Dori etc?) on Day 4, do both at the same time since they’re next to each other.
What Ramen museum? There’s one in Yokohama but you’re going to Yokohama you’d be better off making a day of it.
I’ve not been to Tokyo Disney because I don’t care that much about it and at the moment it’s far down on the list of things I want to do in Japan BUT, there are variations in the rides from other parks. If I was to choose between the two I’d pick Disney Sea since that’s very unique to Japan.
Regarding your size and rides, there should be information about it on the ride pages on the website. If not, there’s so many theme park blogs, one will have your answer.
Kitkat world at Osaka is permanently closed as per google maps. Is there another one?
as a fellow big guy, that just came back from japan not too long ago, i recommend you to get KT tape for your feet and maybe legs. it made walking 20k+ steps a day a breeze.