Hello friends! Wanted to see if I could get some last minute feedback and possibly some pointers too for my itinerary! Been a trip I’ve been planning for years, and finally, about to embark the beginning of September! Overexplaining on some days so not to be low-effort. I am in the Green Class 14 day Jr Pass, which will begin to take effect Sep 12-26 and will cover all of the long distance travel perfectly.
It’s my brother and I, and we generally are trying to see as much as we can with the days that we have and ultimately get the best blend of everything there is to experience.
Sep 3 (Birthday): Arrive in Haneda by Sep 4: Will be staying at the Villa Fontaine Hotel so won’t need to move luggage much. Plan to mainly rest (will arrive around 5 PM) Plan to take a train into Shibuya and go up to Shibuya Sky for a drink and just to see the night view. From there, if time permits, stop by Oreryu Shio Ramen, and potentially hit the Donqi there too. Turn in a bit early around 10pm.
Sep 4th: FUJI/ From here, will be delivering luggage to our stay, Hotel Tavinos in Asakusa. We, however, are going to Fuji to hike it. We have accommodations for the Taiyokan Mountain Hut, about 3 hours from the top. We plan on taking our time, getting plenty of water, conbini food items, and enjoying then Subashiri trail. Make it to the hut and relax/sleep.
Sep 5th: FUJI/ Climb the rest of the way to the top to see the sunrise. Sending a postcard at the mail station at the peak, and then descending. Staying at MyStays Fuji San. Brother is dedicated to going to Fuji Q, I may pass and recoup. Potentially see Aokigahara Forest before the sun sets.
Sep 6th: AKIHABARA AND IKEBUKURO/ Returning to Tokyo the next morning. Staying at Nine Hours Ningyocho (wanted the capsule experience) but this day is dedicated to Akihabara and Ikebukuro.
In Akiba: Game, Figure, and Yugioh/Pokemon Card hunting at Super Potato, Radio Kaikan, Mandarake, Akiba Culture Zone, with a potential pit stop for lunch at the Square Enix Cafe.
In Ikebukuro: Shop in Sunshine City, but main goal is the Animate Shop, and the different Pokemon shops they have. Looking to eat at Tenka Torimasu, but may give in and see if we can nab Let’s Go Pikachu Cafe.
Sep 7th: ASAKUSA AND SHINJUKU/ Officially get to Tavinos in Asakusa (Which is where we’ll be based the remainder of Tokyo)
This day, we are visiting Asakusa and Shinjuku.
In Asakusa: See Sensoji temple and be surprised by the street food. See the view from the Taito Sightseeing Building. Potentially do a 1 hour Rickshaw tour.
In Shinjuku: Visit Hiei Shrine, see Godzilla at the Gracery Hotel, shop at Uniqlo. Later that night, go to Club Camelot and 1 Oak.
Sep 9th: ODAIBA AND NAKANO/ + may try to squeeze in SHIBUYA too.
Odaiba: Visit Diver City Mall, as well as Aqua City for casual shopping, see the Unicorn
Gundam. Stop in on Decks and Joypolis. Maybe grab a bite at Ramen Kokugaiken.
Nakano: Visit every Mandarake we see, explore Nakano Broadway and specifically try to find old school Pokemon cards. May eat at Harumon Yakiniku.
*Shibuya: Will likely eat at Seibu Conveyor Belt Sushi. See the Hachiko statue, go to Yamada Denki, Tokyu Hands, Hikarie, and the Wolf Barber (Looking to get a shave while brother is looking to get a haircut, but a little on the fence on this)
Sep 10th: UENO, TOYOSU, YOKOHAMA/ Ueno, mainly for the opportunity to see a Panda, and then visit Yamashiroya Toy Store and Potentially go to Toyosu, this time only for the food, hoping for it to be early. To end day, Going to Yokohama by 1PM to catch a baseball game, do the Cup Noodles Museum, and visit the Gundam Factory. Depends, but looking to eat at Midtown BBQ.
Sep 11th: NIKKO/ Day Trip. Haven’t decided on a food spot yet, but going largely for Edo Wonderland. After this, go to the Kagon Falls waterfall, Rinnoji Temple, and Toshogu Shrine. When coming back to Tokyo, considering doing Roppongi at night, which would be Mori Tower, but I feel we’ll be zapped by this point and need an early evening night.
Sep 12th: KANAZAWA/ Going to Kanazawa. (JR Pass Begins) Staying at UAN Kanazawa, and taking the first day, likely afternoon, to eat at Omicho Market. Late afternoon, looking to see Kanazawa Castle, Kenrokuen Garden, and walk the Nagamachi Samurai district.
Sep 13th: KANAZWA DAY TRIP/ Taking the day to visit Takayama and Shirakawa-Go. Not a real goal in mind other than just take it slow and enjoy the sights.
Sep 14th: KYOTO/ Heading to Kyoto, staying at Gion Ryokan Kuraku. Stuck on just snacking sporadically at Nishiki Market, or doing the famous Kibune Flowing Noodles. Considering very heavily taking the Sagano Train Ride, along with a full day of seeing Kinkakuji Golden Temple, the Ginkakuji Silver Temple, and making a late PM run to Arashiyama Bamboo grove and Fushimi Inari. Also looking to perhaps get a katana from Tozando.
Sep 15th: KYOTO FARM STAY/ Still staying in Kyoto, but Air BnB with a family in the country side, away from the city. On this day, we plan to just sit and talk with the family, see the nature, and apparently help catch fish and get vegetables from their garden for meals. More of a recoup but culturally enriching day.
Sep 16th: NARA/ Heading to Nara, and staying in another Air BnB hosted by a guy who owns a local eatery that is family run. Dedicating this day to the Yagyu Village. Visiting the graves there, the Dojo and of course the split rock in the forest. If we can fit it in, will visit Kokufuji Temple. Likely end the day off at our host’s eatery.
Sep 17th: NARA, KOBE DAY TRIP/ Still based in Nara, seeing Todaiji in the AM, along with the deer park, and Isuien Garden. From there head to Kobe mid afternoon mainly for the purpose of trying Kobe beef. Likely leaning toward doing it in ramen, at Ramen Yazawa (they have cutlets of it in addition to having it thin sliced in the ramen itself) Potentially visit Umie Mall if time and energy permits.
Sep 18th: OSAKA/ staying at City Plaza Hotel Osaka: Rest in the AM and into the afternoon. Explore all the different food spots in Dotonbori, and check out the Super Potato there, Den Den Town, and the Pokemon Center. Potentially take the Rokkoson Cable Car for some sights. At night, go to Owl Bar, Bar Moonwalk, Giraffe Bar and Club Pink. To finish, may ride in the Donqi ferris wheel.
Sep 19th: OSAKA/ Going to USJ, largely because of the Mario World, but also for the Halloween horror night Resident Evil 2 even that you can partake in. Mostly an all day event, but will try to get in a visit to Abeno Harukas.
Sep 20th: OSAKA/ Find some neat places around Amerikamura, visit the Osaka aquarium, and Round 1. At night, visit Club Candy and Club Adam. May also check out Space Station.
Sep 21st: MIYAZU/ staying at Monjusou Hotel: For one day, cycle around and just take a deep breath and recoup. Go to the peak near Amanohashidate and look
under our legs at the peak.
Sep 22nd: HIROSHIMA/ Heading to Hiroshima and staying at Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima: Try some Okonomoyaki and see if they do it best! Explore the peace memorial as well as doing origami for Sadako. Potentially, may depart mid afternoon to Kumamoto to see Miyamoto Musashi’s grave. If able to, spend a few hours here reading the Book of Five Rings.
Sep 23rd: HIROSHIMA/ Eat at Social Book Cafe, with hope to possibly meet an Atom bomb survivor. Toss up between cat island, rabbit island, and Miyajima, not sure if those can feasibly be done in one day.
Sep 24th: KOYASAN/ Brother’s birthday, and headed to Koyasan, staying at Shukubo Ekoin Temple: Visit Nobunaga’s grave, explore the graveyard and ultimately try to better understand some of the finer points of Shingon Buddhism. Food will be something vegetarian/vegan, if I’m not mistaken, prepared by the monks here.
Sep 25th: HAKONE/ Heading to Hakone. Air BnB tucked away. Has an outdoor onsen, so will be doing that for relaxation. Eat/go to the Ninja Cafe Fuma. Get the black eggs near the Hakone ropeway, and see Odawara castle. See the Sengokuhara Pampas Grass fields at night to see the stars. May check out some Evangelion locations here too. (JR Pass Expires)
Sep 26th: TOKYO/Returning to Tokyo. Staying at Quintessa Tokyo Haneda Comics and Books. Decompress and relax the entirety of the day. May try to grab a bite at Honey Toast Cafe. Will go to Shibuya Sky one more time to just remember it all.
Sep 27th: Return Home. Flight doesn’t leave till 5 PM from Narita so may grab breakfast and souvenir shop a bit more.
– Ultimately, I’m pleased. My brother and I have high energy when it comes to travel, but don’t want to totally and completely burn out. A few places/things we don’t have listed but would love to fit in:
Iya Valley day trip
Awaji Island to see Godzilla Zipline/Mini Theme Park of Naruto
Team Labs Planets (Is this really as bad and smelly as they say?)
Small Worlds
Ride the Saphir Odariko
See/Visit a beach
Himeji Castle
9 comments
I kind of skimmed over it, but it looks okay overall! I actually genuinely like this itinerary. Remember not to rush and tick off everything, but rather just slow down and enjoy your trip. Good luck!
I stayed at at the exact same temple in koyasan in January and it was magical, although a bit cold (u won’t need to worry about that). Make sure to join the night time graveyard tour, its amazing. Also the food is amazingly different from anything I had before. Do you have the world heritage ticket to get there? Getting there is amazing with the cable car and all but can be a bit confusing. Luckily the staff is incredibly helpful. The last leg of the journey is by bus, and the bus driver that pointed us to the right bus after arriving on the cable car remembered which temple we had to go to and pointed us in the right direction while getting of the bus!
If you have any other questions im happy to help
Sept 6th. Unless you go into this with knowing exactly what you’re looking for you are not going to see everything you have on here. I thought I could go through Akihabara in one day too. Plus you want to add Ikebukuro? If you do go through with this please report back on how your experience for this day in particular went.
Thoughts RE: Kansai area – get to USJ early… which may be a bit hard depending on how late your club night is. Abeno Harukas has great views from the 16th floor.
If you wanna ride a Ferris wheel another option is the one at Tempozan (just across the water from USJ). It’s one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world and lasts for about 15 minutes.
Kobe Beef – for the full experience I’d avoid having it in ramen. I go here when I’m craving it: [https://steakland-kobe.jp/en/](https://steakland-kobe.jp/en/)
Looks like a great itinerary.
Ps…. Bar Moonwalk is a chain… I’m assuming you mean the one with cocktails for 200yen right? I’d skip it if I were you – they taste like water. A different bar you might like is Balabushka [https://www.instagram.com/balabushka_osaka/](https://www.instagram.com/balabushka_osaka/)
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Anyway, enjoy! : )
Your Kyoto day might need some more planning. The Sagano train is close to Arashiyama and most people do that and the Golden Pavilion in one day. If you’re in Gion, the silver pavilion is closest to there and fushimi Inari is in a more south-eastern part of Kyoto. It’s likely doable but may be a very early start and a bit of a rush to get through all of that in one day. It’s why most people spend 2-3 days there.
My girlfriend and I did the Sagano Railway a few days ago and we thought it was overrated. It didn’t mean much to us. The way back via the river by boat is cool and definitely worth it! This takes about an hour and a half
Looks like fun! The main issue I see is that your Kyoto day is pretty unrealistic. It’s not a small city. Everything you mentioned wanting to do is about 45-60 minutes apart from each other on public transit (maybe 20-30 by car if you want to shell out for a taxi). Most people spend at least 2-3 days in Kyoto. I think unless you’re dead-set on Kanazawa/Takayama, it might make sense to cut that from your itinerary and go to Kyoto on Sept 12th instead, then continue the rest of your itinerary as planned.
That sounds an awesome holiday. Visiting Japan for the first time is an amazing experience. I always plan an itinerary, but its good to have a bit of flex because the weather can be temperamental. Just some thoughts for you to consider:
AKB – lots of stuff opens between 10-11am, just to be aware of if you are arriving early, I’d rate it much higher than Ikebukuro though so you have the right idea.
Asakusa has changed a lot in the last few years and is an excellent place to hang out. I strongly advise visiting the temple after dark as well, it looks amazing when it is lit up and you will avoid the millions of tourists.
Nakano got a bit gutted by COVID but it is still well worth a visit if your into otaku stuff, which it sounds like you are.
I haven’t been to Edo Wonderland, but if you are going to Nikko you could easily spend a day at the Tokugowa Mausoleum which is pretty spectacular.
Kyoto is hard to do in a day but don’t let that stop you from trying. We did the Gold and Silver Pavilions, Kiyomizu dera, Gion and the Philosophers walk in a day. It is full on. My personal favourite is Fushimi Inari which is spectacular. I’d recommend visiting it at the crack of dawn or just before sunset to beat the crowds.
Nara is awesome and quite small so easy to see a lot quickly, you will enjoy.
Osaka is my favourite city in Japan, I rate Den Den town higher than AKB tbh. It is worth visiting the castle park. Once again, I’d recommend it at around twilight, they light up the castle and sometimes have light shows in the park. The park is quieter but stays lively and has just a really fun atmosphere (not like english parks after dark where you would get stabbed). Great place to sit and chill with a beer while looking out over Osaka.
In Hiroshima, I recommend Okonomiyaki Mura but so does everyone so I’m sure you’ve seen it. For me, Miyajima is a full day trip, although your mileage may vary, at some point Temple fatigue sets in. There are lots of temples on the island though, not just Itsukushima and also the cable car + hiking trails up Mt Misen.
Koyasan is very cool. The cemetery is heaped in folklore and history, but also has very nice, peaceful hiking trails. Then there is the modern wacky segment which is worth a look in. The temples are cool and most are worth a look around. I found some surprising historical portraits of western dictators in one. The best I visited though, had a “rebirth passage” – a small hexagonal passage where the shape of the walls plunge you into total absolute darkness. The idea is passing through it is a form of prayer. It was a really unique experience but unfortunately I can’t remember which temple it was, there are so many there. I remember it was on the main temple street as you head down to Okunoin.
Koyasan to Hakone sounds like a rough journey, but I’m guessing you have planned it out. Make sure you get up early!
Of the stuff you have left out at the end, there is nothing there I’d recommend over what you have planned. Himeji is very cool – but you will at least see Osaka castle.
I think that is a great plan – enjoy yourself!
If you’re coming at the end of September won’t Fuji be closed? 🙁