16 night Detailed Itinerary Check plus Question about Kanazawa

Hi, I am planning a 16 night Trip to Japan, and want a sanity check/ suggestions/ issues I may have overlooked e.c.t.

We are a group of five 22 year olds and I am trying to create a flexible itinerary that hits the highlights for each place (lot of photography) but doesn’t get dragged down with endless touristy things, with plenty of going out e.c.t.

In order we are visiting Osaka, Nara (day trip), Hiroshima, Kyoto, Tokyo, Mt. Fuji (day trip in the middle of time in Tokyo) and then potentially Kanazawa before flying back out of Osaka.

The Itinerary contains a mix of must visits, like famous temples and shrines, and random stores/ points of interest that I have identified that are skippable for time/ dependant on the reality of the day. A numbered list means a relatively tightly planned order of places, while bullet points means a more loose list of points of interest.

**Osaka 3 nights**

Accommodation: Bon Condo Namba Nipponbashi (5 mins walk from Dotonbori)

*22nd November – Landing*

* Land 7pm, realistically clear customs and luggage in 2 hours (more or less?), one hour travel to hotel and an hour to check in and put our shit down means we will step out of the hotel between 10pm and 11pm, leaving just enough time to
* Walk to Dotonbori and eat at some random place, enjoy finally arriving to our holiday

*23rd November – Osaka City*

* Not much specifically planned, there will be plenty to do walking around Osaka with the following points of interest so far (*Looking for more*):
* Tower Knives Osaka
* A tattoo studio for one or multiple of us to get a tattoo
* America-Mura; Probably end up here during/ for the evening to late night
* Wonder Cruise boat party (included with the Osaka Amazing pass, if we get that)
* Not necessarily interested in Osaka Castle, as we are going to Himeji the following day and there will be no shortage of castles and shrines and temples in later days.

*24th November – Himeji Castle*

* Activate 14 day JR Pass today
* Half day trip to Himeji castle, assuming leaving at 9-10 am we should be able to have lunch at Himeji (Himeji Oden?) and be back in Osaka by 4pm, before another night in Dotonbori/ America-Mura/ whatever.

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**Nara Day Trip, on to Hiroshima for 2 nights**

Accommodation: FAV HOTEL Hiroshima Heiwa Odori (Down the street from Okonimimura and Hondori Shopping Street)

*25th November – Nara Day Trip*

* Check out and leave Luggage at Kintetsu-Nippombashi station or Osaka Station or the hotel if they are willing to hold it (depending on how we travel to Nara), i.e. leave hotel at 8-9 am.
* Explore Nara:

1. Todai-Ji
2. Some knife store (Sanjokokajimunechika honten)
3. Nara Park (walk around)
4. Kasuga Taisha Shrine
5. Kofuku-Ji
6. Nakatanidou; Aim to be here to watch them beat the shit of the Mochi and grab some ourselves by lunch time (\~ 1-2pm) before grabbing lunch at wherever in the area.

* Train back to wherever we left our luggage in Osaka, before a 2 hour 21 min travel from the Namba area to Hiroshima, i.e arriving Hiroshima roughly 5-6pm.
* Check in to accommodation
* Okonomimura for Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki
* Head to Hondori Shopping street for the night. (Where else do you go in Hiroshima downtown?)

*26th November – Hiroshima City*

1. Atomic Bomb Dome -> Peace Memorial Park
2. Peace Memorial Museum
3. Shukkeien Garden
4. MAZDA Museum; English tour starts at 2:15 pm, is it reasonable to get here by 1:45 pm?
5. Muji Alpark Hiroshima (Largest Muji in Japan)
6. Back to downtown for the night, mabye Okonomimura again

*27th November – Miyajima Island on to Kyoto*

1. Leave luggage at Hiroshima Station coin lockers
2. Train + Ferry to the Island
3. Isukushima Jinja
4. Hike Mt. Misen and ropeway down or ropeway up and walk down or ropeway both ways.
5. Daishoin Bhuddist Temple
6. Go to some oyster restaurant on the coast for late lunch.

* Aim to leave the island by \~4pm, is this reasonable?
* One hour travel to pick up luggage at Hiroshima Station, leaving for Kyoto by 5 – 6 pm.

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**Kyoto 3 nights**

Accommodation: Resi Stay BRiX (Near Gojo subway station & Kiyomizu-Gojo train stataion & a \~20 min walk into Gion)

*27th November Continued – Arriving in Kyoto*

* \-Arrive in Kyoto by around 7 – 8 pm.
* Head over to Pontocho laneway for dinner/ the night on Kamo River

*28th November – North and North East Kyoto*

1. Kinkaku-Ji, Top Priority, leave as early as possible
2. Kyoto Imperial Palance; Skippable
3. Higashiyama Jisho-ji / Ginkakuji (I’ve seen it referred to as both?); Top priority
4. Nanzen-Ji
5. Gion; Walking around for the rest of the day, exploring northern Hagashiyama

* Is this too much or too little to be done before arriving in Gion?

*29th November – South and South East Kyoto*

1. Fushimi Inari Taisha; Top Priority, aim is to reach summit at or near sunrise (6:45 am), i.e. arriving at the entrance near 6 am and leaving the hotel near 5:30 am.
2. Tofuku-Ji; Autumn foliage during this time
3. Kyoto National museum – Walk from Fushimi Inari to this point, to explore Hagashiyama
4. Kiyomizu Dera
5. Explore Gion again, walk past Hokan-Ji pagoda e.c.t

*30th November – Kyoto to Tokyo*

* *Drop off luggage at Kyoto Station*

1. *Get to Nishiki Market by 10 am when it opens*
2. Some knife stores in Nishiki Market
3. Nijo Castle, possibly skip to make time for:
4. Kyoto Railway Museum
5. Kyoto Tower
6. Back to Kyoto station in time for lunch and to leave for tokyo at \~2 pm

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**Tokyo 7 nights including Mt Fuji Day Trip**

Accommodation: AirBNB in Kabukicho 5 min from Shinjuku Station

*30th November Continued – Arriving in Tokyo*

* Check in and put our shit down
* Tokyo Metropolitan Government Observation Deck, if we make it by sunset
* Golden Gai
* Some bar north of Shinjuku (Bar Cocktailbook Shinjuku)

*1st December – Asakusa day*

1. *Senso-Ji (Will we be templed out by this point?)*
2. Tokyo Skytree; Quite probably skippable if wait times are bad or just not worth it
3. Kappabashi Dougu Street – As you can probably tell by now, I intend to bring home 2 -3 Japanese Chef Knifes
4. Shopping near Ueno – (HINOYA & AMERICAYA)
5. Akihabara; I’m not interested in buying Anime merch but some of us will be, but walking around and taking pictures will be cool
6. Walking around Asakusa/ Akihabara/ Shopping in Ginza
7. Seiko Museum Ginza
8. Uniqlo Ginza – Must Visit
9. Manten Sushi Marunouchi – Everything before this point needs to happen before either a 5pm or 7pm reservation
10. teamLab Planets; looks cool, if we end up with a 7pm reservation this cant really happen but a 5 pm reservation will work

*2nd December – Shibuya & Harujuku Day*

1. *Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden*
2. Meiji Jingu
3. Harujuku Crepes (at one of them)
4. A bunch of stores up and down Harujuku, mostly denim stores and second hand fashion
5. Hachiko Memorial Statue
6. Shibuya Crossing; Just gotta do it
7. Shibuya for the night

*3rd December – Ghibli & Shimokitazawa*

1. *Studio Ghibli Museum*
2. Shimo-Kitazawa until lunch time, number of cafes/ second hand fashion stores e.c.t
3. Return to Shinjuku/ not sure
4. Yokohama for the late afternoon, dinner/ night in Yohohama Chinatown

*4th December – Fuji Day Trip*

1. Train from Shinjuku to Mt Fuji station, pick up a hire car near there
2. Chureito Pagoda
3. Drive around Lake Kawaguchi, possibly around some of the other northern lakes, lots of photography
4. Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway
5. Lake Yamanaka
6. Gotemba Premium Outlets
7. Return Car near Mt Fuji Station
8. Train back to Shinjuku
9. Out in Shinjuku or whatever

*5th & 6th December – Spare Tokyo Days*

* Leftover days to revisit wherever we found most interesting, missed out on due to time, e.c.t, plus the following points of interest:
* Shinbashi (looks like cyberpunk at night? interested for photography) + Tokyo Tower at night
* Pokemon Centre Mega Tokyo
* Tokyo National Museum
* What else should we visit?

*7th December – Kanazawa*

* Leave for Kanazawa by 10am, 3.5 hour train ride to arrive 1-2pm.
* I really don’t know what there is to be done in Kanazawa but my groupmates are interested.

8th December – Kanazawa to Osaka to Airport

* 3 hour 20 min train to Osaka, arriving by 1 pm.
* Flight is at 9pm, i.e. leave by 5-6pm for the airport.

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Question about Kanazawa:

Is Kanazawa worth visiting for one night (on the 7th December)? My group’s current tentative plan is to leave Tokyo on the 7th, therefore arriving in Kanazawa near 1pm, before leaving the following day at check out (near 10am) to get back to Osaka (our flight home is 9pm from Osaka on the 8th.

My concern is that sunset is \~4:30 pm at that time, and therefore there will be basically no time to explore, little to no nightlife in Kanazawa to engage in and \~6-7 hours of cumulative travel the 48 hours before boarding a 14 hour flight out of Osaka. There is the samurai district and the ninja temple but I don’t think we will have enough time there to make the travel worth it.

I would alternatively like to return to Osaka the morning of the 7th (3.5 hour train), leaving the day and night to continue exploring Osaka, potentially visit Kaiun Bungy and make leaving for the flight easy.

Thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear any criticisms, like too many things on one day, hidden spots that we could visit, alternatives to things we have picked e.c.t. We are happy to wake up early and walk all day long, so that isn’t too much of a concern.

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