I (33f), my husband (33m), and our daughter (2) will be making our first trip to Japan together. We chose to go during the busy time of New Year because it’s the only time my husband can reasonably take time off and we’d rather go and deal with minor inconveniences rather than not go at all. We were planning to go in October 2020, but the pandemic thing changed that for us.
A few background things and some questions before you read:
-We will buy our plane tickets in October, so no arrival or departure times yet.
-We are based in the US, however, we will be leaving from the Philippines before this so there won’t be much jetlag.
– We split our itinerary/hotels into East and West neighborhoods. We tried doing shrine and quieter neighborhoods at the beginning of our trip before everything would be closed or packed during New Year.
-My husband’s birthday is Dec. 31st. Are there any cool experiences I can surprise him with at any point this day?
-Is Ueno a good neighborhood to stay the majority of our trip in regards to having a toddler? Any other places you’d recommend if no?
*Edit: I changed some things around based on comments.
Tuesday December 26
Arrive
Hotel in Ueno
Sensoji (maybe)
Wednesday December 27
Tokyo Disney
Thursday December 28
Tsukiji Market
TeamLabs
Diver City
Friday December 29
Meji Shrine
Akihabara
Saturday December 30
Ginza
-Happy Pancake
-Art Aquarium
-Uniqlo
Tokyo Tower
Sunday December 31
Skytree
Check in Asakusa Ryokan @3pm
Midnight Hatsumode at Sensoji (maybe)
Monday January 1
Hotel near Tokyo Station?
Shibuya
-Crossing/Hachiko Statue
Shinjuku
Tuesday January 2
Harry Potter Studio (maybe)
Harajuku
Wednesday January 3
Sensoji (maybe)
Ueno
– Zoo or Nature and Science Museum
Thursday January 4
Leave
4 comments
Meiji shrine and Akihabara are on opposite side of Tokyo. Meiji shrine is in Harajuku.
While I could understand the desire to try a ryokan, doing 3 hotels in Tokyo is really not necessary. It’s easy enough to go from one side of the city to the other… unless you plan to return to the hotel mid-day, you could save yourself the hotel change. I guess you want the ryokan for your husband birthday, but if it was not for that, I would just do it for the last night so you only change once.
Just a heads up- numerous tourist attractions, stores, and restaurants are closed during New Year’s holiday in Japan. You might want to check what is open and work your itinerary around that.
Tokyo Disney is going to be rooooouuuugghhh during the new year holiday. I live in Japan and my best friend is actually coming to visit the same time as your trip and we are doing Tokyo Disney on the 28th and 29th to avoid New Year chaos. I would recommend you doing the same!
With a toddler I would also definitely recommend a Disney hotel if you’re doing Disneyland and Disney sea, but if you’re just doing Disneyland on one day I wouldn’t bother switching hotels!
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