Going to Japan for a month next year from mid March to April (as mid March seems to be when the cherry blossoms are anticipated) with my parents and maybe brother. I’d like to see nightlife and arcades, as well as the cherry blossoms and getting some good solid days in nature and natural wonder. My parents would probably enjoy seeing flowers as well as live jazz music- also vintage things. Please let me know if you feel I’m missing anything or notice inconsistencies 🙂
# **22nd-26th March: Tokyo**
Day one:
-check in to hotel
-look at cherry blossoms in Shinjuku-Gyoen park
-eat at Ain soph journey for dinner (or lunch depending)
Take time to settle in. The activities of today may vary depending on arrival time
– party, club or explore kabukicho
Day two:
-look through harajuku taking time to stroll
-ramen at jikasei mensho
-Go to nakameguro river and go to the Sakura festival (hanami- dates pending?)
-Explore shibuya, go to shibuya scramble. Get a better view at mags park with a drink
-Go up to Shibuya sky for a sunset viewing
Day three
-get some convenience food or find a local cafe
-Disneysea
-Go out for dinner if leaving early (ideally an early start at Disney)
-Party, club or explore Shinjuku nichome
Day four
-early start at Sensoji temple as early as possible
-Stop by fruit sand which shop then head to ueno park and sumida river to look at more cherry blossoms
-Ashikaga park
-Shop/look around in Akihabara and Harajuku
-Tokyo tower at night, look by prince shiba park before going up
Day five
-Mount Fuji day trip, look at chureito pagoda and go to lake kawaguchi. Fuji-Q or narusawa ice cave if there’s time. Or go to some of the other five lakes
-wild card- stay in Fuji area as long as needed
(This may be on another day, depending on the weather and what day seems to be the clearest to see Mr Fuji)
# **27th-31st March: Kyoto**
Day six
-arrive by Shinkansen, check into hotel
-Nanzen-ji temple
-explore the gion district (ideally want to stay in this area too in a ryokan if possible- and I believe there’s a Starbucks with a traditional tea house look around here?)
Day seven
-early wakeup maybe 6am to go to Fushimi Inari Taisha
-continue to Jonan-gu shrine
Day eight
-early wakeup to go to arashiyama bamboo grove, then tenryuji temple
-kinkuji temple/golden pavilion
– Nishiki market/lunch
Day nine
-day trip to amanohashidate, doing the chairlift to the viewing platform. Walking along the sandbar
Day ten
-early wakeup for kiyomizu dera, exploring it and surrounding area for most of the morning into afternoon
-sunset stroll alongside Katsura river
# **1st-5th April: Osaka**
Day eleven
-check in to hotel
-explore dotonbori
-don quixote ferris wheel
Day twelve
-day trip to Nara
-get food to take to murou art forest, explore till afternoon
-go to Nara park and feed deer on way back to Osaka, toda-ji temple
-possibly party in dotonbori- I have seen some clips of boat parties along the river with fun music. Does anyone know more about this?
Day thirteen
-Go to Osaka castle
-namba yasaki shrine
-round1 stadium/or other arcade places
-umeda sky tower
Day fourteen
-universal studios, early wakeup.
Spend most of day here but no plans to do anything else
Day fifteen
-explore shinsaibashi
-explore shinsekai
# **6th-7th April: Hiroshima**
Day sixteen
-check in to accom
-go to peace park
Take it easy for the day or freestyle
Day eighteen
-go to the floating tori gates and left priestess bridge at high tide, ideally early
Take the rest of the day to check out other parts of the island and hiroshima
# **8th-10th April: Beppu**
Day nineteen (en route to beppu)
-early arrival to Kawachi wisteria garden
-thinking of getting a hire car from here, leaving early
-check in to accom
-onsen at accom
-beppu observatory to look at the steam
Day twenty
-seven hells beppu
-lunch with steamed onsen food
-hot sand onsen by the beach
Day twenty one
-monkey park/mountain
-beppu ropeway or nabegataki falls
-onsen
# **11th-13th April: Miyazaki**
Unsure if to stay in miyazaki or split it up
Day twenty two
-early start to takachiho gorge
-amanoiwata shrine
-Mount aso if there’s time
Day twenty three
-devils washboard
-aoshima island
-sun messe and moai statues
-udo ingo
Day twenty four
-aya teruha suspension bridge
-things that weren’t able to be fitted in on other days, or just relax
# **14th-16th April: Yakushima**
Day twenty five
-arrive and check into accomodation
-go to jomonsugiland or yakusugi museum
Day twenty six
-very early morning hike to jomon sugi
-chill at accomodation or by one of the beaches later after relaxing
Day twenty seven
-public hirauchi kaichu onsen, low tide
-drive around the island, particularly the west, stopping at ohko and nunobiki waterfalls as well as swimming at isso and inakahama beaches along the way. Maybe snorkelling
# **17th-18th April: Tokyo**
Day twenty eight (Tokyo)
-check into capsule hotel
-free day for night activity upon arrival, explore something that we weren’t able to do earlier. Maybe the Chiba monorail?
-explore roppongi
Day twenty nine
-chidorigafuchi park, go on a boat or ashikga
-explore shimokitazawa for thrift shopping and vintage shops, harajuku Takeshita street
-explore odiaba and do Tokyo labs borderless (not the planets one)
-Tokyo joypolis
back to Sydney (maybe via Singapore or on the way)
**Some questions**
1. We may have two more spare nights- any suggestions on where these should be allocated?
2. Is it too far travel distance between Miyazaki and yakushima and then yakushima to Tokyo? (Flying), I was considering a night in Kagoshima as a pit stop for each way, but not much there interests me
3. Do people have any suggestions on gay night life or parties in Tokyo and Osaka, and same goes for vegan food? Doing my research but open to suggestions! Bonus points towards house and dirty techno music!
4. I suspect spring will be very very busy. Do the waking up early hacks you see online actually work?
5. Has anyone heard of the Osaka river boat parties?
6z good ryokans?
2 comments
Lots of great vegan food in Tokyo/Kyoto. In my experience it’s been the obvious places, but careful with surprise opening hour changes. Near Senso-ji in particular there is a nice vegan gyoza spot. /r/veganinjapan has good resources and of course so does Happy Cow. Also Kyoto has a vegan ryokan, Vegan Minshuku Sanbiki Neko. Re: Ain Soph Journey locations, definitely make a reservation in advance online, I’ve almost always needed one.
There are jazz music river cruises in Osaka if that is what you mean re: the parties.
Miyazaki to Yakushima involves a train down to Kagoshima and then a ferry. Yakushima back up to Tokyo would be a hell of a haul on trains, all day for sure. But Kagoshima has an airport, flights back are less than 2hrs.
Not sure what you mean by waking up early hacks but I’d plan on being up on the early side most days to accommodate your itinerary and travel times. Plus seeing early morning light at some of these locations. I’d allocate the extra days to Tokyo if you haven’t been before – while there are plenty of transpo options, it can take longer to get around then you think, especially if you want to wander or get a snack. And you never know what fun seasonal activities may come up that you want to experience.
Wish I could be of more help but I haven’t been to all the places you listed. But what a fun trip!
Day 4, Ashikaga park is really far from Ueno. Kind of make no sense in that day.
Day 22, that is… kind of unrealistic. Ok, let’s suppose you have a rented car. Beppu to Aso is about 2h15, To Takachiho, 1h, to Miyazaki, 2h. That is over 5h of driving in a single day. Cutting Mount Aso, you save about an hour, going straight to Miyazaki would be only 3 hours. I think that Mount Aso is a bit ambitious for that day, maybe add an extra and sleep in Takachiho and go see the Kagura at night.
Day 25… so you think you can start the day in Miyazaki, drive 2h (or 2h30 on train) to Kagoshima, take the ferry to Takyshima and still have time to go to Yakusuki museum before it close at 5pm ?… nah, forget it. That day will be dedicated to move from one to the other.
Chiba monorail on the day you return to Tokyo… Chiba is 40 minuts on the Sobu rapid line… you want to go all the way just for… a ride on the monorail? ok…
Waking early hack… only work with things that do not have opening times… so you are limited to some temple/shrines, streets, park, maybe some hikes. Yes totally fine for some area. However, things like museum, temple/shrines, garden, castle usually start to open at 9am, observation deck at 10am, stores at 10-11am. So waking up early might be a good option in some cases, of course check individual opening hours, but it does not always pay off.