Flying out end of March 2024, staying for 17 nights all over Japan. Any help would be appreciated as I’ve never been outside Europe!
I know the best way would be to not plan much and just explore, but we might not be able to re-visit due to flight costs and I have serious FOMO (yes, there is a timestamped and colour-coded version). This is the first draft so apologies for the format, grammar and spelling.
We’re fast pace travellers that want to see as much as possible efficiently, but so far we had to skip animal cafes and museums due to time/locations. Not sure if anything we planned could be left out or substituted for something else? Main interests: FOOD (especially sushi), Sakura blossoms, culture and collecting stamps from stations, temples etc.
Questions
* What’s one food place we have to try? / What’s one snack we have to bring back?
* Coffee shop recommendations?
* We want to take advantage of the jetlag and schedule our days to be 7:00-22:00; would any temples, parks etc be closed that early? I’ve seen a lot of people recommend going to popular places before 6:30 but we don’t want to be skipping breakfast with all this walking!
* We’re getting the Osaka 2 day pass, are there any other passes we should consider?
* Should we plan any particular activities to be early in the morning/weekdays to avoid crowds?
* Some of the restaurants mentioned might be hard to book – all meals that don’t have a restaurant mentioned aren’t planned; any recommendations?
* A bit niche, but I collect Starbucks cards, in other countries you can usually walk in and grab some (I always buy something as well), what’s the etiquette for this in Japan?
​
**Day 1 (Tokyo)**
* Land at Haneda around 8:00, allow 2h for customs and bag collection.
* Head to hotel at Takanawa to drop off bags
* Tsujiki or Toyosu market for lunch
* Don Que to buy snacks, coin purse, stamp book, hand towels – any other essentials?
* Check-in and chill for a bit. Head for dinner (somewhere we can book so we don’t have to queue) and see Tokyo Tower at night
**Day 2 (Tokyo – Mt Fuji)**
Might regret having this the day after travelling but we thought a weekday might help avoid crowds. If the weather is bad, should we cancel this and have a free day or is it still worth seeing the Pagoda/Lakes with bad weather?
* Get breakfast at 7-11 and more food to take for lunch. Head to meeting point for tour – we’ll book this as I’m not sure how to self-plan this.
* Be back around 19:00 and have dinner at Shodai
* See Meguro River at night on the way back
**Day 3 (Tokyo)**
Would it work if we rented bikes for half/whole day?
* Breakfast at Asakusa or Akihabara
* Senso-ji Shrine, Ueno Park and Nezu Shrine
* Have lunch at Kura Sushi Asakusa
* Walk around Nakamise street (maybe try Suzukien)
* Public transport (or bike) to Chidorigafuchi park, Imperial Palace
* Head to Ginza and explore a bit before going to Manten Sushi for dinner
* Explore Asakusa and Akihabara
**Day 4 (Tokyo)**
* Breakfast somewhere and head to Shinjuku national gardens, Tokyo Metropolitan Building for views
* Lunch at Tsujihan
* Pokemon Cafe and Nintendo Store
* Clothes shopping around the area
* Dinner (ideally booked) and head to Rapponhi Hills for night views
**Day 5 (Tokyo to Hiroshima)**
* Walk along Meguro river and arrive at Starbucks Reserve 7:30-8:00 for breakfast
* Check-out and forward luggage to Osaka, we will keep one cabin bag and a backpack
* Shinagwa station for bento on the train to Hiroshima. We’ll sit on the right side for Mt Fuji views
* Check-in, drop bags and explore Dome area
* Have dinner, and explore a bit more
**Day 6 (Hiroshima – Miyajima)**
Some places might seem in the wrong order – this is so we can catch both low and high tides at Itsukushima Shrine
* Breakfast at hotel and head to Miyajima
* Walk through Omotesando street and get to Itsukushima in time for low tide
* Find somewhere for lunch and head to Mijayima Ropeway – would 2h be enough for there and back?
* Return to Itsukushima Shrine for high tide
* Daisho-in temple, Momijidani Park, Itsukushima Pavilion
* Have dinner and see Itsukushima at night before heading back
**Day 7 (Hiroshima to Osaka)**
* Have hotel breakfast and explore the area (or get a couple more hours of sleep)
* Get snacks to have on the train to Osaka. Ideally would like to get the Hello Kitty Shinkansen but I think it only operates at 8:17 from Hiroshima to Osaka
* Have lunch at Izakaya Toyo and head to hotel to check-in and drop bags (and reunite with our luggage!)
* Explore and eat! Dotonburi (including Glico man), Tsutenkaku, Shinsekai, Namba Yasaka Shrine. Somewhere in between, queue for Gyukatsu Motomura. Also would like to try Takoyaki and Melonpan
**Day 8 (Osaka – USJ)**
We are so excited for this day – we’ll invest in an express park as we never go to theme parks, so it’s not a frequent expense. We want to purchase that through the USJ website so we can select timeslots (Klook randomly assigns that), but we don’t have applepay – how can we purchase tickets?
* Spend the whole day at USJ
**Day 9 (Osaka)**
* Start using Osaka 2 day pass – can we book cruises in advance or only day of?
* Head to cup noodle museum – allow 4h and have our creations for lunch
* Osaka Castle and walk to Kema Sakuranomiya Park (might skip the park as Sakura cruise should cover it)
* Find somewhere for Dinner, maybe Kuromon market?
* Tombori night cruise
**Day 10 (Osaka to Koyasan)**
* Breakfast somewhere and book Sakura cruise (if we couldn’t book in advance)
* Sakura cruise and back to hotel to check-out
* Forward luggage to Kyoto, grab lunch for the trip and head to Koyasan around 13:30 – not sure what the best way is to travel there?
* Check-in and rest at the temple for a while, have dinner there
* Cemetery night tour
**Day 11 (Koyasan to Kyoto)**
* Buddhist service, fire ritual and breakfast at the temple
* Check-out but leave bags there so we can explore nearby shrines
* Get lunch to have on the way to Kyoto – not sure how to get there either?
* Check-in Kyoto, drop bags and explore Gion (hoping shops are open past 16:00)
* Nothing planned for the evening – maybe find somewhere to explore or stay at Gion
**Day 12 (Kyoto – Arashiyama)**
* Public transport to Monkey Forest, have coffee at Arabica and breakfast if they sell food
* See the Bamboo Forest and Tenryuji Temple
* Have lunch at Arashiyama Itsukichaya and go to the Station to rent bikes
* Jojakkoji, Gioji, Saga-Toriimoto Street, Otagi Nenbutsugi, Daikakujibike back to station to drop off bikes
* Nishiki Market
**Day 13 (Koyto – Nara)**
Some of these might look out of place but we want to catch the Mochi Pounding at Natakanidou (I believe 13:00-15:00)
* Breakfast to have on the train to Nara
* Maybe rent bikes to explore Nara Parkfeed the bowing deer
* Manyo Botanical Gardens
* Lunch at Mizuya Chaya
* Kofuku-ji Gojunoto Pagoda on the way to Natakanidou
* Daibutsu-ike Pond, Isuien Garden and Todaji Temple
* Back to Kyoto and hope to get reservation at Kichi Kichi Omurice for dinner
**Day 14 (Kyoto)**
* Breakfast somewhere and head to Fushimi Inari Shrine – would 3h be enough for halfway point and back?
* Lunch somewhere and get public transport to Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion)
* Public transport to Ninanji
* Have a tea ceremony or cooking class or even a food tour – if time, return to Nishiki Market
**Day 15 (Kyoto)**
* Nineizaka streets to Kiyomizu-dera, then return for breakfast at the traditional Starbucks
* Kodaiji Temple, Yasaka-jinja Shrine, Heian-jingu Shrine
* Walk along Keage Incline and return to Nineizaka
* Find somewhere for lunch
* Check shops in the area, Loose Kyoto donuts or other snacks
* B36 Rooftop for dinner at sunset
**Day 16 (Kyoto to Yokohama)**
Breakfast somewhere, check-out but leave bags at hotel, forward luggage to Tokyo hotel or Airport? We’ll be at the airport at 6:00 2 days later so will we be able to collect or is there any risk of not arriving in time?
* Ginkakuji Temple and Philosopher’s Path (hopefully there’s still some blossoms)
* Get lunch for the train to Yokohama, sit on the left for Mt Fuji views
* Check-in, drop bags, and walk from Gundam Factory to the piers
* Chinatown for dinner, Cosmoworld for a couple rides
**Day 17 (Yokohama to Tokyo)**
* Grab breakfast to have on the way to Tokyo, drop bags at hotel at Shinjuku
* Explore Shinjuku – Godzilla, 3D Billboards, Shops
* Lunch at Uogashi Nihon-ichi standing sushi
* Explore Shibuya – Shibuya crossing, Shibuya Parco for Nintendo shops
* Mega Don Qui / Daikoku / Matsumoto Kiyoshi / 3coins: Buy a suitcase to fill with snacks, puzzles, tea, skincare, makeup so we can have all tax-free items in one place. Find shops for chef-knives and tea sets
* Find Gashapon to get our last souvenirs and get rid of some coins
* Reserve somewhere for dinner, see Shinbuya and Shinjuku at night and sleep early to be at airport by 6:00.
Thank you so much for reading this – I would be very grateful for any feedback!
3 comments
This all looks really thought out to me.
If you are sad that you’re not going to an animal cafés and one of your Kyoto days is a Sunday, maybe check out [Coffee with Kitties](https://www.japancatnetwork.org/news-events). You can have coffee (in the morning or around lunch), play with shelter cats and support that local shelter.
In case you haven’t seen these, there are a few coffee shop recommendation posts for different cities in this sub: [Tokyo](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/eugvdo/an_ongoing_tokyo_coffee_guide/), [Osaka](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/ezj5nx/an_osaka_specialty_coffee_guide/), [Kyoto](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/euugy7/kyoto_coffee_guide_inspired_by_uramenporns_tokyo/). If you are looking for some calm, relaxing cafés in Tokyo, check out Heidi Sarol’s café hopping videos.
Check [here](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4904.html) for how to get from Osaka to Koyasan.
Day 1 there is a nice cafe at Toyosu called R.O Star, it’s just a nice place to sit with good priced coffee and tasty sandwiches incase you are pretty tired.
Day 3 seems way too busy tbh with you. If the weather is bad on Day 2 I would do some of Day 3 on that day.
Sensoji Shrine, Nakamise and Asakusa exploring (Asakusa is a ghost town after about 6pm so there isn’t all that much to explore in the evening) are next to each other so do those in one visit. Then Ueno Park and onto Ginza after lunch (I would skip the Imperial Palace as it’s pretty dull if you can’t go in.) then do Akihabara in the evening.
Day 4 do the government building first as it’s open earlier than Gyoen. It’s the completely opposite exit of Shinjuku station so be prepared for that walk.
I will suggest that maybe it’s worth getting breakfast after doing an early morning activity some days if you can.
Hello, I’m Japanese.
I’ve only looked at your itinerary in Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, etc) because I know the region quite well, and I think it’s well planned. I don’t think any of the days is ambitious. I like that. 🙂
You want to get some food recommendations, and I think I can give you some. However, I want you to tell me more specifically what you want to try and how much your budget is. It will be just too many options and places if we talk about the food there in general. So let me know.