Once in a lifetime trip to Tokyo for 40th birthday

31 comments

1. I’m sure people will have differing opinions, but I think if you only have a day in Kyoto check out Fushimi Inari and the Gion area (Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka) for the traditional-spiritual vibe that makes the city special compared to Tokyo.

2. Senso-ji temple is a personal fave, but it does get crowded around the entrance. I did enjoy walking around the area and looking at the shops. Meiji temple is also popular, but I’ve yet to visit.

   Gion area in Kyoto is also popular, but I went to Higashiyama. Both places can get crowded too.

   I love games and anime, but my recommendations are lame, sorry. Nintendo Shop in Parco, Shibuya probably, and it also has stores for other brands like Namco, etc. Akihabara and Shinjuku might be good. Are you looking to shop or just browse? Personally I enjoyed going to Mandarake in Shibuya. Secondhand shop that has a lot of anime and game stuff, especially if you’ve played retro games.

   As someone your age who also had a lifelong dream of going to Japan, I am excited for you! Explore side streets. You can find hidden gems and be surprised by small things. Language-wise, many establishments are capable of communicating in basic English, and I’ve survived with visual menus and pointing at things. Arm your phone with a translator app (I have Papago, which I picked over Google because its reading voice speaks more naturally) and Google maps! Those two apps and having a wifi device saved me so many times.

   Also, don’t feel too bad if you don’t get to see everything or miss a few places. Just go to where you can, don’t rush it, and enjoy.

3. Kyoto isn’t something you day trip from Tokyo. And if your focus is gaming, Kyoto isn’t for that either. Visit all the arcades. I found it a lot of fun even though I am not a big gamer.

4. congrats on birthday
   1. Kanda Myojin shrine which is behind Akihabara. Famous for robot omikuji, anime idols they even have underground live house for local
   idols
   2. hmm google tokyocheapo for itinerary on kyoto. I did kiyomizu kinkaku ginkaku gion.
   3. Fujikyu this time of the year it’s just hot. The only technically cool things they have is haunted house. What about nearby Gundam factory or Yomiuriland which also are anime featured

   4 kura zushi

   5 Check out timing of Comiket in Tokyo big sight and Tokyo gameshow in Makuhari chiba. Teamlab if you do math & meth. Nakano broadway for anything retro

5. I think you should skip Kyoto – Kyoto is a big city, will take you a while to get there, and you won’t be able to cover all that much ground because everything there is spread out. Different story if you stayed two days, but you don’t really have time for that. I’d suggest doing a day-trip to Kamakura or Nikko instead, as both are a lot smaller and closer.

   Meiji Jingu for the one-shrine in Tokyo. Also Sensoji is worth it if you’re in the area (probably when you’re in Akihabara). Tokyo opens up late, so if you don’t have anything to do in the morning you could hit up Shinjuku Gyouen for a park/garden.

6. Personally, I love Kyoto, but if there isn’t anything specific you want to do there, I would just not do it. That’s a pretty long day trip to do just to do a day trip. If you want to ride a shinkansen, there are easier things you can plan out to get that experience, much cheaper too.

   I would go to Kamakura instead.

   If you’re in Tokyo, most restaurants you can get by without knowing Japanese. Finding English menus is not that hard.

   If you like roller coasters I hear Fuji Q is great. A friend just went a few weeks ago and had a blast. I believe they do offer same day skip the line passes. I think USJ is the outlier with the buy in advance skip the line passes.

   Depending on what games you are into, there is a Capcom store in the Shibuya Parco, there are a lot of Pokemon Centers through out Tokyo, (I feel like I’ve been to them all) There is the specifically Kirby shop in Skytree attached to the Cafe, (you don’t need to go to the Cafe to go to the merch shop.) There is a Nintendo shop at the same Shibuya Parco as the Capcom store. There was a Genshin Impact shop at the P Parco in Ikebukuro, but I am unsure if it was a temp thing or permanent since my daughter didn’t make me go back this Summer.

   Skytree has Tree Village which carries a mix of anime and some game merch. It felt very random.

   Mandarake has some used games and systems, it depends on what you are looking for. We were on the hunt for a Japanese 3DS in June/July.

7. 5. Go to Kabukicho if you are into the Yakuza video game series.

   Also, Super Potato is a cool retro game store. I played a Virtual Boy they had there and I probably haven’t seen one in 25 years

8. You are talking about 6-7 hours just to travel to Kyoto and back, not including time to travel from the train station to what you want to see and back to the train station.

   I don’t think it would be worth it unless you stay the night there.

9. You might want to hit up the Nintendo store in Shibuya.

10. If you’re a gamer, you should make time to visit out the video arcades and shops that are dedicated to gamer merch. Sega is a great place to start

11. Can you extend this by 3-4 days? It’s a long way to go for only 5 full days.

12. Skip Kyoto, it definitely isn’t a day trip.

    Have a look at Kamakura, which easily accessible by train from Tokyo (60-70 min) and is packed with old temples etc. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura)

    Two days of Temples etc (16th and 21st) does seem a lot TBH.
    Once you have seen both a large Buddhist and Shinto temple, it’s just variations on the same theme.

    Two other things spring to mind. The Outer Tsukiji market is well worth a visit.

    [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html)

    Visit a Shotengai

    [https://blog.japanwondertravel.com/shopping-street-shotengai-in-tokyo-20906](https://blog.japanwondertravel.com/shopping-street-shotengai-in-tokyo-20906)

13. Yeah, agree with other commenters that Kyoto is not really a “day trip” from Tokyo. You need at least 2 days there, and it’s quite a bit more difficult to get around – you’ll end up using a lot of taxis to reach the big crowd drawing shrines/temples there.

    Since you’re going to Fuji-Q, you should also consider DisneySea in Tokyo – it’s an amazing park.

    You probably won’t need an extra day in Tokyo just for temples/shrines – especially if you have a full day guide to take you around. They’ll almost definitely take you to Senso-ji.

14. Regarding Fuji Q, fast travel passes are only available for purchase 72 hrs before entry, can’t be purchased on the day either. Rides were closed without warning due to maintenance & changing weather when I visited . So its recommended to buy to save time, queues can be long. Also, not all rides are covered by your general entry ticket. You will have to pay additional yen for certain attractions.

    As a general recommendation. Invest in a decent pair of walking shoes. Also, please invest in a pocket wifi hotspot for the duration of your trip. Wifi was almost nonexistent outside of large chain stores. It was cheaper to rent a hotspot vs a sim card. Google maps is invaluable for navigating. I’ll leave specific recommendations to others as my most recent visit was 2016.

15. Just fyi, you no longer need an approved tour guide, independent tourism has been allowed since ~fall 2022

16. Make sure you’re well excessed before you go! Its hard to have a bad time in japan if you have the energy to explore.

17. Double-triple-quadruple suggest not trying to day-trip Kyoto. We had 3 days and it wasn’t enough. I genuinely get wanting to cram as much Japan into your mid-life crisis trip as you can – I sure did – but 2+ hours on the shinkansen both ways means you’re not going to have time to really DO anything, basically just stand on a street corner, go “yep looks just like the photos,” and go back.

    As gamers and nerds DO take time to be nerds in Shinjuku and Shibuya. West side of Shinjuku station is Yodobashi Camera, a complex of a dozen different stores each with a different focus – we stayed in a hotel across the street and it turned out to be THE easist way to find games, arcades, anime merch, and puzzles/legos/fun games versus bumming all around Tokyo. Not that we didn’t also do Shibyua PARCO (absolute must), Ikebukuro, and Nakano Broadway, but we actually bought the most at Yodobashi and at every random Book-Off we found from Kumamoto to Nagano. At least you’ll find GIGO and Taito Stations everywhere so just stopping to pop some yen in a coin slot will be super easy mode and no reason to actually set a destination unless you’re looking for specific retro games.

18. Isn’t Daikoku Futo a Fri/Sat/Sun thing usually? Do you have someone taking you there or do you have a car rental? It’s really hard to get there without a car and extra hard/expensive to get back without one.

19. Kyoto deserves more time

20. Just returned from a 2 week trip to Japan:

    For gaming nerds (especially of your age), I couldn’t recommend [84](https://www.tofugu.com/travel/84-members-only-nintendo-bar/) more strongly. If you’re not familiar, it’s a secret, members-only café that used to be the exclusive hang out spot of the Japanese game industry. The owner worked at Nintendo for 10 years (’85-’95) and then lead his own QA studio for 10 more, and the café is decorated with art from his friends. Except, his friends are people like Miyamoto (creator of Mario and everything), Sakurai (Kirby, Smash Bros), Koji Kondo (composer of the Mario theme), and so many others.

    However, after years of being members-only, the cafe has [recently opened to the public](https://www.nintendolife.com/features/a-visit-to-84-hashi-tokyos-secret-nintendo-staff-bar-now-open-to-you) (just last September!). You can [book here](https://what.tokyo/84/84tour/what_is_84/).

    I recently went on a weekday, and was the only customer: I got the full 90 minutes to chat with the owner about his life and career in the game industry (with the help of his English interpreter). I don’t know how rare or common it is to be the only customer (you could maybe scroll the cafe Instagram and guess when it gets crowded.) It was a highlight of my whole Japan trip.

    Another great gaming spot in Akihabara is [Game Bar A-button](https://www.timeextension.com/news/2018/03/feature_a_tour_of_game_bar_a_button_tokyos_treasure_trove_of_gaming_kitch). A perfect combination of quiet, 10-seat izakaya and retro gaming history. The owner has a Panasonic Q, a Dreamcast Dev Kit, and a N64-DD all casually sitting out. When you sit down, he hands you a backlit gameboy and a basket full of classic games. My best times here where when a local was kind enough to start chatting in English. I ended up buying some drinks for my new friends and we talked all night. I wish I spent more time trying to speak with the owner and learning about his collection.

    I agree that Kyoto and Osaka are not really day trips, but if you like drinking and nightlife, my subjective recommendation might be to spend a night in Osaka. Tokyo’s Golden Gai didn’t do it for me, but Osaka’s nightlife districts really did. There were good crowds and lots of places open late that looked friendly to pop in to and get to know some people. Osaka’s version of Golden Gai are buildings like the Misono building: multi story buildings where each story is a dingy hallway with closed doors, but those doors open into tiny, 8-seat bars that are each completely different. My favorite videogame bar experience in Japan was seeing Bar Encount ([BARエンカウント](https://goo.gl/maps/kextNAyQHXNX3PY9A)). It was my favorite not because of the people, but because it got me into one of these intimidating buildings to see the world inside. Each door is like its own little universe, and the universe of Bar Encount is a great retro gaming spot. I used google translate to ask the owner for The Legend Of Mystical Ninja on the SNES, and he used google translate to apologize for not having the original, but got me a copy of the sequel that was never released in the west to play while I was there. Also had a blast eating Osaka’s bar food (takoyaki, okonomiyaki) and drinking at more lively late night spots. If staying out late and drinking is at all part of this boy’s week, I’d recommend Osaka. (Although my wife didn’t drink and also had a great time staying out late with me).

    If you do go to Kyoto and want to do some gaming after the temples, I had a nice time at [snack Bar A-55](https://g.co/kgs/3YSfgo)- you pay by the hour for an all-you-can-drink plan, and also get unlimited access to a shelf full of Japanese snacks. It was a little hard to figure out but we had a nice time playing Wii and eating snacks. This bar is also near Pontocho Alley, a cool street with izakayas and bars, including some other cool looking game spots I didn’t visit, such as cafe la siesta 8bit edition.

    You’re gonna have an amazing time, I’m so excited for you two!

21. Popeye was a ton of fun when we went. I’ve still got my members card!

22. If you can you should move daikoku pa to Friday or a weekend day as there are way more cars :]

23. First, I know you said you have a family with kids and lots of responsibilities. However, if you’re trying to do all these day trips, try your best to extend a few days. A day trip to Kyoto really isn’t worth it. You’re gonna pay 20,000 yen, spend 8 hours, then ride back. Totaling 6 hours of travel.

    Fuji-Q does have great coasters if you’re an enthusiast plus a ton of anime themes through the park. Naruto is the big one there. If you’re not into any of those, probably skip it.

    Check out sen-soji temple, odaiba is really cool, too. Also, if you can’t extend, maybe take a day trip to Nikko instead of Kyoto. Kura-sushi is a chain.

    Try any conveyer belt sushi, really. Best of luck, safe travels, and enjoy!!

24. Don’t make any plans on the day you arrive. You’ll be wiped out from the jetlag, especially if you don’t have much experience traveling that far. I’ve flown to Japan four times from the UK now and you really need some time to recover. Also I don’t know much about this Daikoku car meet but it doesn’t look like something you can easily get to by public transport, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend you try and rent a car and drive there on the day you arrive.

    You obviously want to pack a lot in because you don’t know if you’ll be able to make another trip and that’s understandable but frankly you don’t have a lot of time so you’re going to need to make your trip more focused to get the most out of it. Accept you won’t see and do everything, that’s going to be the case even if you do many longer trips. And at the end of the day while you may be unsure if you’ll get to go again remember that Japan isn’t going anywhere and there’s always going to be the possibility of another trip in the future.

    So yeah as others have said, stick to Tokyo and the immediate area. Save the money you would have spent on a very expensive shinkansen (you do know a return from Tokyo to Kyoto is like £160 right?) for a rushed day trip and spend it on some nice food or souvenirs.

    And make sure you try some stuff other than ramen and sushi, I know it’s most of what we typically get exposed to in the UK as far as Japanese food goes but it really is the tip of the iceberg.

25. For context, in Europe going to Kyoto on a day trip is like taking the Eurostar from London to Paris and returning same day. In the US it’s like going to Washington DC from New York and back. You wouldn’t want to stay part of one day In either Paris or DC. Bothe cities deserve 4-7 days.

26. i would recommend against daytripping kyoto, takes 2.5 hours to go there and there wont be enough time to cover things. its not a large city per se but its way too big for a daytrip. why not spend a night in fuji, see mt fuji one day and fuji q highland in the other

27. I would skip the theme park and go see the pagoda and Fuji views in that area instead. I’m sure your home country has better parks, so why waste time on it?

    Also, like others have said, Kyoto isn’t a day trip. It’s like a week trip, realistically, but if you only do a few things I’d say it’s a three day minimum trip, not including travel time.

28. Nikko is the best shrine around Tokyo.

    Best day trip from Kyoto is Nara.

29. Not sure how Nakano Broadway is faring these days, but that’s also a must-visit for a nerd (or at least used to)

    If you like Ghibli movies, try checking if you can get a ticket to the musem just outside Tokyo (like 40 minutes by train?)

    Yokohama still has the moving Gundam, and it’s less than an hour from Tokyo, definitely worth a visit for the town itself and the giant robot as an added bonus

    Now for your actual itinerary:

    – don’t do a guided / approved tour, Tokyo (well, Japan (well, most of the world)) is fun to get lost into, plus you’re never really lost as everyone is super helpful, but you’ll find so many hidden gems in alleys, be it shops or groceries or a market or an izakaya, you really don’t want to just stick to a guided tour

    – Skytree, make sure you get there an hour before the sunset or so, so you get to see Tokyo by day and by night on a single ticket

    – I do remember a pretty good sushi place in Asakusa, 24/7, with some super-fat tuna nigiri going for 500 yen a piece, you’ll find it on the other side of the big road from Keihan hotel, can’t remember the name as it was Japanese only, but if you visit Asakusa after the sun sets, you can’t miss it (it’s also close to the local Don Quijote, another nerd stop, although Akihabara has a bigger one), plus the whole neighborhood is magical to walk around in after tourists leave

    – don’t forget a stop in Harajuku, at least Takeshita street, it’s just one stop away from Shibuya anyway

30. Super Potato has a lot in stock, but it’s also crazy expensive. I saw a lot of stuff in there that was 2x the price of other stores for an item in the same condition. It’s a good experience though, because it’s packed with retro stuff.

    Mandarake and Book-off are awesome for retro, but there’s quite a few of them and you’re limited for time.

31. if you are into retro anime/gaming 80s/90s, I recommend takano broadway. They have more retro stuff than akihabara. Its like 2 stops from shinjuku by train. Akihabara was kinda disappointing mostly because there is alot of one piece/dragonball/gundam.