Please help me reduce my anxiety about my 14 day itinerary check for trip in November

11 comments

1. you might lose your phone at the airport, nobody will care. you choose to miss the flight to find it. you never do. its midnight. youre hungry, lost, phoneless, and have nowhere to sleep tonight. Enjoy Japan.

2. > Nikko on Nov 12

   Kind of a waste of time given your schedule. The 12th is towards the very tail end of decent foliage; if you catch the 10:31am express train from Shinjuku you arrive in Nikko proper at 12:37pm; sunset in November is ~4:30pm. So you are traveling two hours each way for four hours of meaningful touristing time, minus however long you spend on lunch (I would suggest buying something from a convenience store and gulp it down on the train).

   > evening Nishiki Market

   Nishiki is not a night market, if you go after 6pm you will just see closed shops and staff mopping floors.

   > Kiyomizudera evening illumination

   [Not available until Nov 18.](http://www.kiyomizudera.or.jp/en/visit/special_night_viewing/)

   > Shoren In evening illumination

   [Not held in 2023.](http://www.shorenin.com/night/)

   > Kuromon Ichiba Market (Kitchen of Osaka)

   I would characterize it as more of a tourist market (similar to Faneuil Hall, Pike Place Market, Chelsea Market etc.), it can be fun if going with the correct expectations.

3. Shinjuku is similar enough to Shibuya that you can choose one and not really bother with the other.

   Nikko is pretty far away – maybe stick with Mt Takao if you’re getting a late start.

   You will need advance tickets for the Ghibli museum. If you can’t get them, maybe consider one of Tokyo’s municipally-run museums like the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Museum, the Teien Art Museum, or the Photographic Art Museum. They’re lesser known and you definitely won’t need a reservation.

4. Have you considered swapping 9th and 12th?

   You can have a look at the popular hakone loop
   Most people do this in 1 day:
   https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5210.html

   FYI nishiki market is more a morning /early afternoon thing. Lots of shops will close at night.

5. Also I forgot to add, you should visit Shinjuku gyoen for a nice garden

6. **Nikko** trip a worth of a full day, and it has plenty to offer so you would not want to rush through it (and the later the time in the day, the less you can). So for nature, a local park or closer areas would be better. I’d recommend:

   * Showa Memorial Park @ Tachikawa (quite large, plenty to see). During this time of year, the foliage has special night light-up that is worth of seeing (extra charges apply)
   * Shinjuku Gyoen – as other’s have mentioned, it is a famous park and an iconic landmark. The downside being they close kinda early.
   * Jingu Gaien – not a particular park per se, walking around the area you’ll get to enjoy beautiful Ginkyo trees or architecture like the National Stadium by Kuma Kengo. If you don’t mind walking around to explore a little.

   As others have mentioned, **Studio Ghibli** needs tickets booked ahead of time and i don’t know how that is done abroad. In case you got the ticket successfully, after enjoying the museum you can visit the nearby Inokashira park. There is a very nice lake inside. Kichijoji area also has a lot of themed stores and nice food options. if you feel like strolling a bit more, Tamagawa-Josui is quite nice too. it is a canal from Edo period for supplying clean water into the city.

   You mentioned **Hakone** for the Sunday trip; personally i think leaving around noon is too tight for Hakone as well. There is a cable car to view the crater “Oowakudani” and Ashi-no-ko lake, and there are some museums that are quite fancy as well. Maybe some ideas for your next visit :).

   **Nov 15th** – I would switch Bamboo forest to the first thing in the morning. The earlier the better because just how much more crowded it gets as the day progresses. Same issue with Tenryu-ji as well, really, but at least is it bigger and not two-directional.

   **Nov 16th** – Fushimi Inari has a whole mountain behind the famous shrine so that could also be a part of your visit.

   Hope this helps, and please ask if you have any questions or needs any elaboration 🙂

7. 9th

   I don’t know what time “morning” is for you, but most stores in Shibuya don’t open until 10/11. You might consider going to Meiji Jingu first if you want to do stuff early.

   Also Tokyu Hands was bought by another company and now it’s just called Hands. There is one in Shinjuku too next to Takashimaya department store

8. Be prepared for November to be a harder to book month for Ghibli Museum tickets because the museum is closed from the 6-17th, so there will be more people competing for the open days.

   I am in no way affiliated with it, but if you are desperate to go, and don’t mind paying additional you can see if you can contact Willer ahead of time about tickets in November.

   [https://willerexpress.com/en/theme-park/ghibli-museum/](https://willerexpress.com/en/theme-park/ghibli-museum/)

   They are completely legit and real tickets. Willer is one of the big bus companies in Japan. They do cost considerably more than buying direct, but sometimes having a guaranteed tickets can be worth it. I’ve stayed up until 2 am 2x now to book reservations for the Kirby Cafe for my daughter and I would 100% pay a service that guaranteed to get those for me.

   Kichijoji has a nice park and some cute shops if that is your thing. (It’s one of the stations near the Ghibli Museum.)

   A lot of shrines are likely to be popular , especially on week ends, because November is when Shichi-Go-San takes place. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichi-Go-San](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichi-Go-San) The official date is 11/15, but lots of people do surrounding days because it’s so popular.

   Perhaps visit somewhere you can pre-pay for your activities and have pre-paid meals for Sunday, so you are not spending the money on Sunday itself?

9. We went for a full day in Nikko and still it wasn’t enough. Nikko Toshogu shrine is magnificent but I think you’ll just feel rushed and won’t be able to see it properly, not to mention all the other interesting things there…
   Have you considered Enoshima Island? You can get from Shinjuku Station for under and hour to Fujisawa and then take the Enoden train to the island OR for about the same time take the train to Ofuna and then catch the Shonan monorail. Both the monorail and the Enoden are attractions by themselves. The island Is small but beautiful and for about half a day you could see it all – there’s the Enoshima shrine (Three Great Benzaiten Shrines, Benzaiten being the goddess of the Ocean), go up The sea cabdle, visit the cave where the story about five-headed dragon Gozuryu originated, if you have time – the Samuel Cocking garden. There are beautiful views everywhere…

10. Maybe try weed or adopt a kitten 🤷

11. I just came back yesterday. We had a lot of fun, planned a little but you should not get too worried about missing out. There is so much to see, don’t worry if you don’t see it all !

    On Kyoto, the 15th, may I suggest going to Adashino Nenbutsuji after the bamboo groove ? Not too long a walk, and IMO a much smaller yet more beautiful bamboo groove.

    Giō-ji Temple 祇王寺 is also on the way there, so might be worth a check !

    Golden Pavillon was quite quick to see, so you will have planty of time !

    Have fun !