This community has been invaluable in planning my trip, I can’t thank you enough for your posts and comments! Looking for some direct help this time. I am less than two weeks away from my 22-day honeymoon in Japan with my husband, and I am looking for some last minute thoughts or suggestions for our trip. Besides the reservations made (noted below), the plan is pretty flexible. I do not need to visit each one of the sites listed, but we are using them more as guides to let us explore but not feel rushed. To finish up the planning, besides general thoughts on my itinerary, I have a few more questions:
What is your experience with shipping luggage from hotel to hotel? Can you do it same day? Can you do it days in advance? How long will a hotel hold onto your baggage for you? Hoping to take advantage of it throughout the trip, but I’m not sure where to begin with it besides asking the hotel.
What are some other things to do in Osaka? We potentially have 1.5 days free and I would like some more activities in my back pocket. The aquarium is a possibility, but more options would be nice.
Is Yokohama day trip worth it? Is there a better day trip from Tokyo?
Any food recommendations? Even though we plan on exploring for a lot of our meals, it would be nice to have recommended spots saved so we can check them out if we are around that area.
**Day 1 – Tuesday, September 5**
Arrive at HND at 15:30
\- Exchange JR Rail Pass
\- Pick up pocket Wifi at the JAL, ABC counter is located on the 2nd Floor (Arrival Lobby)
Train to hotel in Shinagawa (30mins)
Hitachino Brewing Shinagawa
**Day 2 – Wednesday, September 6**
Train to Sumiya Kiho-an Ryokan (5.5hrs)
Dinner at Ryokan
**Day 3 – Thursday, September 7**
Train to Arashiyama (1hr)
Arashiyama
\- Bamboo Grove
\- Togetsukyo Bridge
\- Iwatayama Monkey Park
\- Kimono Forest
Train to hotel in Kyoto (30mins)
Dinner around Kyoto Station
**Day 4 – Friday, September 8**
Philosopher’s Path
\- Higashiyama Jisho-ji (start)
\- Nanzenji Temple (end)
Gion
\- Gion Corner (look into day-of tickets)
\- Hanamikoji Street
**Day 5 – Saturday, September 9**
Train to River Cruise in Arashiyama (40mins)
Hozugawa River Boat Ride (2hrs)
Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple
Anything else in Arashiyama we missed before
Free afternoon
**Day 6 – Sunday, September 10**
Nishiki Market
The Museum of Kyoto
glänta kyoto (13:30 reservations)
Kyoto Mameshiba Cafe
GEAR (17:00 show)
Pontocho
**Day 7 – Monday, September 11**
Train to Fushimi Inari Taisha (20mins)
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Train to Nara (90mins)
Nara
\- Kōfuku-ji Temple
\- Nara Deer Park
\- Nandaimon Gate
\- Kasuga Taisha Shrine
\- Dinner
Train to Kyoto (1hr)
**Day 8 – Tuesday, September 12**
Free morning
Imperial Palace
Dinner at Kiyama (18:00 reservations)
**Day 9 – Wednesday, September 13**
Train to hotel in Hiroshima (3hrs)
Hiroshima
\- Peace Museum
\- Peace Memorial Park
\- Hiroshima Castle
Free night
**Day 10 – Thursday, September 14**
Train to Itsukushima Jinja (1hr)
Itsukushima Jinja
\- High tide 9:05
\- Low tide: 15:23
Train to Himeji Castle (2.5hrs)
Himeji Castle
Train to hotel in Osaka (2hrs)
Dotonbori
**Day 11 – Friday, September 15**
Osaka Castle
Hokoku Shrine
Teppanyaki Toyota (11:30 reservations)
Umeda
Explore Namba
**Day 12 – Saturday, September 16**
Free day
Hope to hang out with friend who lives in Kobe
**Day 13 – Sunday, September 17**
Train ride to Kishiwada (45mins)
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri
Train ride (1hr)
teamLab Botanical Garden Osaka (18:30 reservations)
**Day 14 – Monday, September 18**
Train to hotel in Kinshicho, Tokyo (4hrs)
Explore Ginza
**Day 15 – Tuesday, September 19**
Train to teamLab (1hr)
teamLab Planets (10:30 reservations)
Tsukiji Outer Market
Train to dinner (45mins)
Dinner at Isana (18:00 reservations)
**Day 16 – Wednesday, September 20**
Train to Disneyland (1hr)
Disneyland
**Day 17 – Thursday, September 21**
Sumo at Ryogoku Kokugikan
Dinner at Chanko Tomoegata (18:30 reservations)
**Day 18 – Friday, September 22**
Switch to hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo
Akihabara
\- Super Potato
\- Retro Game Camp
\- Bandai Namco
\- Trader 1
\- Surugaya Akihabara Game Hall
\- Mandarake Complex
Train to hotel (30mins)
Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball game (18:30 start time)
**Day 19 – Saturday, September 23**
Shinjuku/Shibuya
\- Shinjuku Station
\- Shibuya Sky (Hoping to get 16:30 tickets)
\- Shibuya Crossing
\- Nintendo Store
\- Yoyogi Park
\- Meiji Jingu
\- Shiba Cafe
\- Golden Gai
**Day 20 – Sunday, September 24**
Yokohama
\- Minatomirai
\- Landmark Tower Sky
\- Cosmoworld
\- Yamashita Park
\- Chinatown
\- NYK Hikawa Maru
\- Harbor View Park
**Day 21 – Monday, September 25**
Free morning
Train to Ghibli Museum (40mins)
Ghibli Museum (16:00 reservations)
Free night
**Day 22 – Tuesday, September 26**
Train to HND (1hr)
\- Use up last of Suica card
\- Return pocket Wifi
Depart HND at 10:55
4 comments
To answer your questions about shipping luggage – I would just go under the assumption that it’ll arrive the next day. For example, you could ship your luggage from your hotel in Shingawa straight to Kyoto, and take an overnight bag with you to your Ryokan stay. All you need to do is let your concierge know, they’ll measure and weigh the bag, call your recipient hotel in advance to check your reservation and let them know the luggage is being shipped, and then fill out the postage labels for you. We sent some luggage 2 days in advance, and it wasn’t an issue (so you could ship your luggage from Kyoto – Osaka, and take an smaller bag to Hiroshima), just bare in mind even some larger hotel chains only accepted cash for the postage payment.
Just one note on your itinerary – if you plan to stay in Itsukushima to see low tide, you won’t make it to Himeji Castle before it closes at 1600, so it might be better to go to Himeji on your way to Hiroshima instead, or move it to the morning of Day 12, and stop by Kobe on your way back to Osaka. I should add, I actually really enjoyed the Aquarium in Osaka, or if you like quirky little food spots, Shinsekai could be a good addition.
As for day trips from Tokyo – I’ve been to Yokohama many times, and really like the Minatomirai Area; it’s a little more business-y but when the weather’s nice the views from Yokohama bay are great. I had quite a bit of fun at the arcades in Cosmoworld as well, and Chinatown is a must (especially the char sui). Another recommendation would be Kamakura – I like to take the train to Kita-Kamakura and walk the Daibutsu Hiking Course, where you can see Fuji on a good day, to Kōtoku-in bronze Buddha statue, then take the Eno-den back round from Hase to Kamakura town centre, then shop on Komachi Steeet, and visit Tusurgaoka Hachimangu. Hakone Loop is also do-able as a day trip, but might be a bit much with everything else you’re planning.
I visited Arima Onsen outside of Kobe and it was a nice trip! If you have time 🙂
Osaka-jo (castle) is a reconstructed concrete block. But, hey, the elevator and gift shop give off that early Edo vibe. Forget about it. And fuck Yakult, if you are in Yokohama go see the Bay Stars. Their fans are crazy.
My wife and daughter just returned from a month long trip staying primarily in the Tokyo area. Our nearest JR station was Otsuka on the Yamanote line. I miss Japan already!
I just wanted to comment on food, if you are interested in trying ramen (specifically tsukemen aka dipping noodles) I would recommend trying out Menya Musashi Niten in Ikebukuro while you’re in the Shinjuku area. They have a vending machine ordering system like most ramen shops, but it’s been upgraded to a touchscreen and can be changed to English. I know there are unlimited choices in ramen and regionally it can be different, but if you get the tsukemen with either the char-siu (my preference) or the chicken tempura it’ll be a nice hearty meal. It’s also not as bad on a hot day since the noodles are cold. If you’re especially hungry, they give you noodle portions to choose from with each bowl (I think small – large are all the same price, but extra if you want beyond that). Price is great at 1000-150 yen at the most.
They are in a way a chain, but each location varies – and this one is our favorite. They also have curry bowls available too which I recommend, but it does seem to sell out before dinner, so perhaps shoot for lunchtime if you want to try the curry.
Getting there is pretty easy but Ikebukuro station is pretty large. I would just recommend looking for the yellow exit signs for East/Central exit (exit 35 is the quickest). Or if that is too difficult, just exit the closest possible and whip out maps once you’re at ground level.
P.S. We did go to teamLabs just this past Thursday. If you aren’t already aware, make sure to wear something appropriate because there is a section where water can reach up to your knees and mirrored areas (floor is completely mirrored too). The whole water portion you need to go in barefoot, but they do provide a locker free of charge to put your belongings.
P.P.S. Are you doing both Disneyland and DisneySea? If so just know to get to DisneySea, it’s about a 15min or so walk from Maihama station unless you pay extra for the resort train. Also people get there earlier than they do in the states. An hour before opening is not early enough and lines to get in will be already pretty long but that point. The Beauty and Beast queue was about 1-2hr wait the entire time we were there. Around 8pm we decided to just get in line since it was down to 50min, but at that point it wasn’t too hot so it was bearable to wait.