Hey guys I’m heading to Japan for 3 weeks and just looking for some advise with my itinerary. This will be my third time to the county, however I was last there back in 2014, as a broke backpacker penny pinching the whole time. I mean getting the night bus instead of the train levels of budgeting. This was for a few weeks at the end of a 5 month trip around south east Asia, so the jump in cost was a very jarring. Before that I spent a week in Tokyo during uni back in 2009, that time as a broke student. Anyway the aim for this trip is to go back and do the country properly, not worry about cash and just enjoy myself, but on the bullet train this time lol.
The Main advise I’m looking for is. In Matsumoto what sights beside the castle would you recommend?. Is Himeji castle worth devoting a whole day to? anything you would recommend in Osaka at night, after 6pm? I’m kinda just using it was a base to for day trips. Any advice on a Hiroshima & Miyajima day trip? Ive previously been to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum already so looking to devote most of the day to Miyajima. Any reviews of the Ghibli Park? I know the Mononoke Village is opening in November so I’m very tempted by that.
Also weather wise, how cold is November?
Heres my current plan. Starting off with a painful 14 hour flight from Ireland.
​
# Tokyo
Day 1 – October 28th – Arrival
* Sleep & food – try to kill jet lag
Day 2 – October 29th – Akihabara & Asakusa
* Super potato
* Animate & Ami Ami
* K-BOOKS
* Gachapon Kaikan
* Egg Baby Cafe?
* Sensō-ji
* Nakamise Shopping Street
* Tokyo Sky Tree – at night
Day 3 – October 30th – Shibuya & Harajuku
* Shiro-Hige’s Cream Puff Factory – Totoro cream puffs
* Harajuku – mame-shiba café & café reissue
* Meiji Jingu shrine
* Shibuya – Nintendo Store, Capcom Store, Pokémon Centre
* Tower records
* Shibuya sky – at night
Day 4 – October 31th – Shinjuku & Ikebukuro
* Suga Shrine Staircase – the Your Name steps
* Sunshine city – Pokémon Café & Gachapon
* Shinjuku Gyoen national garden
* Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
* Golden Gai
* Kabukicho – Halloween night
Day 5 – November 1st – Niko – Day trip / hangover cure
* Toshogu Shrine
* Shinkyo Bridge
* Rinnoji Temple and Treasure House
* Kirifuri Waterfall
​
# Kusatsu
Day 6 – November 2nd – Overnight stay in Onsen
* Yubatake
* Yumomi performances
​
# Matsumoto
Day 7 – November 3rd – Arrival
* Matsumoto Castle
Day 8 – November 4th
* Takayama – Day trip from Matsumoto
Day 9 – November 5th
* Snow monkeys – weather depending
​
# Kyoto
Day 10 – November 6th
* Nijo Castle
* Nishiki market
* Guided tour – Gion at night
Day 11 – November 7th
* Fushimi Inari Shrine
* Philosopher’s path
* Nanzen-ji Temple
* Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion)
Day 12 – November 8th
* Kiyomizu-dera
* Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka – Shopping streets
* Yasaka Shrine
* Cooking class – Vegetarian
Day 13 – November 9th – Arashiyama
* Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
* Tenryu-ji temple
* Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)
Or
* Ghibli Park – Nagoya day trip
* Nagoya castle
​
# Koyasan
Day 14 – November 10th – overnight stay at a temple
* Okunoin Temple & Cemetery
* Kongobuji Temple – Rock temple
* Konpon Daito Pagoda
​
# Osaka
Day 15 – November 11th
* Osaka castle
* Dotonbori
Day 16 – November 12th – Nara day trip
* Tōdai-ji
* Kofukuji’s pagoda
* Nigatsudo Hall
* Deer
* Kasuga Taisha Shrine
Day 17- November 13th – Hiroshima & Miyajima day trip
* Itsukushima Shrine
* Miyajima ropeway
* Peace park
* okonomiyaki
Day 18 – November 14th
* Himeji castle – Feels like I’m wasting a full day here, any advise
​
# Hakone
Day 19 – October 15th – Overnight stay in Onsen
* Hakone Shrine – loop
​
# Tokyo
Day 20 – November 16th
* Akihabara again – load up extra luagge
Day 1 – November 17th
* TeamLab Planets?
Day 22 – November 18th
* Studio Ghibli museum
* Nakano Broadway
​
Flight home – November 19th +15 hours 🙁
So tips would be very much appreciated. Ive traveled a lot around Asia but haven’t been to Japan in ages, so I’m just looking for some pointer and tip. Also anything that I’ve missed? Cheers guys 🙂
7 comments
I think this is an ideal time to travel to most of these places weather-wise.
I’ve been to both Matsumoto Castle and Nagoya Castle and I think you’d be disappointed with the later if you’ve been to the former. You can’t actually go in the castle part in Nagoya. I’d substitute the castle with something else like SCMaglev and Railway Park or Nagoya City Science Museum if in Nagoya.
Don’t forget you have to arrange tickets in advance for Studio Ghibli.
Dotonbori was nice after 6pm
of course it was packed, but it was a nice vibe
I highly recommend spending at least 1 night in Hiroshima. There’s enough to do and even taking an express shinkansen, it’s about 1.5hrs by shinkansen from Osaka (if I remember correctly). If you don’t want to spend a whole day in Himeji, I recommend going to Himeji in the morning, then travelling onto Hiroshima in the afternoon. After 1-2 nights in Hiroshima, you can head straight to Hakone.
If you don’t plan on doing too much shopping, you can have your suutcase sent straight from Osaka to your Tokyo hotel and just pack a smaller bag for Himeji/Hiroshima/Hakone.
Regarding Himeji: after the castle you can spend the rest of the day in Kobe. I can recommend Kobe Herbal Gardens or Kobe Harbour
Hmm, I’d say be wary of Halloween night in Shinjuku and the Shibuya area. It gets ridiculously crowded and mob-like. I personally don’t vibe with it. But it depends on what you want to do.
I would suggest splitting Shibuya and Harajuku into 2 days, seems impossible to cram all of that into one day. Don’t forget the Meiji shrine closes at 5pm. Your totoro cream puffs are also out of the way from Shibuya and they sell out fast. So if you want to grab those you need to get there early.
Shibuya is a day out if you’re hitting Sky Observatory, Parco etc and stopping for meals. Harajuku is always a day trip for me because I love checking out all the local Japanese brand stores and other exclusive Japanese brand collabs. I have my usual haunts in both areas for meals, coffee and snacks so i always dedicate a day each!
The Osaka aquarium is really nice if you’re into aquariums.
Just a heads up the shops in Akihabara all pretty much don’t open until 11am. K Books most days of the week is 12pm.