My partner and I are traveling to Japan last 2 weeks of Oct. 2023. This has been a dream vacation of mine, delayed many times due to COVID, so to say I am excited is a massive understatement. We are gay men in our mid-30s, who both love experiential vacations and are comfortable walking a lot. My main goals for the trip are having cultural experiences, seeing beautiful temples & gardens, and eating as much food as possible. My partner’s number 1 priority is Tokyo Disney Sea.
General Questions:
For meals, with the exception of a couple of food tours and a reservation at a nice Kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, I was just planning on discovering places as we go versus trying to hit specific locations. Would that be recommended, or should I do more research and have a stronger game plan?
I’d love to see a performance of Japanese theatre while we are there. It seems the best option right now is to try for a single act ticket at Kabukiza in Tokyo but would love other recommendations if people have them.
I read much about the popular shrines in Kyoto, but was wondering if anyone could recommend a favorite “low traffic” shrine, particularly one with a beautiful garden? It doesn’t have to be anything grand, just looking for a spot to have a more Zen experience.
Any recommendations for LGBTQ+ things to do? We do plan on hitting up the Ni-chome neighborhood in Tokyo and Doyama-cho in Osaka.
I welcome any additional recommendations based on our interests and places we are going as well.
Itinerary/Area Specific Questions
Day 1 – Arrive in Tokyo
Hotel: JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Shinjuku
We land in Haneda at 13:45 and will head to the hotel from the airport. Depending on how we feel, we may wander Shinjuku a little after we get settled, but not expecting to do anything today.
Day 2 – Tokyo
This day will be our “Western Tokyo” day, focusing on wandering Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. We will probably attempt to see Meiji Shrine, Shibuya Crossing, and go to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, but mostly the day will be about wandering the neighborhoods and soaking them in.
For dinner, I booked a food tour in Shinjuku at 17:00 with the hopes that a) we will get to try a lot of different foods, and b) having a structured activity will help us fight the jetlag.
Day 3 – Tokyo
This is our Eastern Tokyo Day, focusing on wandering around Asakusa and Ueno. We will check out Ueno Park, Senso-ji Temple, and maybe head over to Akihabara. Like Day 2, the focus will be more about exploring the areas instead of hitting specific sites.
Day 4 – Tokyo DisneySea
As mentioned above, my partner’s number one priority is going to Disney Sea, so I want to make sure it is special for him. However, I’m finding the Disney site to be a pain in the butt to navigate, and would love if anyone has any tips on how to book hotels, shows, restaurants etc? Or is it really just monitoring the website for availability and hoping to get lucky?
Day 5 – Tokyo
I’m going to try and get tickets to the Ghibli Museum for this day. If I’m successful, they day will be built around that. If I’m not, I may get tickets for TeamLabs Planets, or just use that day to check out anything we missed in the first couple of days.
Day 6 – Day Trip from Tokyo
This day is my biggest question mark. We are looking to do a day trip from Tokyo, and our top interest would be seeing Mt. Fuji. Based on what I’ve read, I think we would go to Kawaguchiko area; however, it sounds like it can be hit or miss on actually getting views of the mountain. We really would only be interested in going to this area to see the mountain, but I would love feedback as to if you think going would be worth it regardless of if we actually get views or not? And any tips for monitoring the weather while we are there to get a better sense of if mountain views are realistic?
If it seems like Mt. Fuji is not the best plan for us, I will probably pivot the day to either Nikko or Kamakura. I’m leaning more toward Nikko currently, but Kamakura also sounds beautiful and has the advantage of being much closer. Any thoughts on one versus the other, and tips for enjoying them?
Day 7 – Travel to Hiroshima
Hotel: Sheraton Grand Hiroshima Hotel
We will take a train to Hiroshima, aiming to arrive early or midafternoon. No set plans in case we hit any snags along the way.
Day 8 – Hiroshima
We will be heading to the Peace Memorial Museum, Peace Park, and Atomic Bomb dome. If we have time later in the day, we may go to Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden.
Day 9 – Himeji/Osaka
Hotel: Citadines Namba Osaka
We will depart Hiroshima and head to our next base, Osaka. We will leave early to stop at Himeji along the way, aiming to arrive as the Castle opens.
Aside from the Castle and Gardens, is there anything else people would recommend doing in Himeji or would we be best served by just heading to Osaka when we have finished? Would it be madness for us to hit Kobe along the way too?
Day 10 – Osaka
This is our day to explore Osaka. We will start with Osaka Castle, and plan on doing Dotomburi in the evening, but otherwise this day is fairly open, so we would welcome any recommendations here. I’m considering Shinsekai, but I’m hearing conflicting things about it. I have booked a food tour in Dotomburi this evening in the hopes it will help us cover a lot of culinary ground efficiently.
Day 11 – Nara Day Trip
Day trip to Nara to see the deer and Todai-ji. Time/energy permitting, we will probably explore the other temples and shrines near the park.
Day 12 – Koya-San Day Trip
Day Trip to Koya-San to see the temples and wander Koyasan Okunoin
Day 13 – Kyoto
Hotel: Kyoto Takasegawa Bettei
Our goal is to arrive in Kyoto by 9 at the absolute latest, then head to Ginkaku-ji. After that, we will walk the Philosopher’s Path and perhaps check out Nanzen-ji and Eikando.
Day 14 – Kyoto
Rise early and head to Kiyomizu-dera, hopefully right when it opens at 6:00. Afterwards, we will wander through Gion towards Maruyama Park. Time/Energy permitting, we may check our Kodai-ji, Chionin, and Yasaka Shrine.
Day 15 – Kyoto
We will rise early again and head to Fushimi Inari, aiming to be there by 7 at the latest. This is what I am most excited about for the trip, so I am planning to spend a lot of time here and hike most of it. Afterwards, time/energy permitting, we may check out Tofuku-ji and Sanjusangen-do.
Day 16– Kyoto
This day is up-in-the-air because we will for tickets to Saiho-ji. If we get in, we will build the rest of the day around it, maybe tacking Kinkaku-ji here as well, if we don’t get it earlier. If we don’t get Saiho-ji, we will probably do either the Kurama/Kibune Hike or the Arashiyama area. We may also try and hit Kinkaku-ji this day depending on what we decide to do (I’m struggling to figure out when best to fit Kinkaku-ji in, since it’s not really convenient to the other things I want to see).
Note – when we apply for Saiho-ji, we will ask for any of the days we are in Kyoto, to increase our chances and flip our days around accordingly.
Day 17 – Fly Home
