Hello! We’re a group of 4 first-timers going to Japan in a few weeks and we (for the most part) finalized our base plan for most of the trip. Half of the group are only visiting the country for a week, while the other (myself included) are staying a full 2nd week.
The bullet points for each day are mainly to highlight some ideas/interests that we planned to check out so we would likely just be exploring within those areas throughout. I plan to be in Tokyo for most of the trip, with a few nights in Kyoto.
I wanted to post this just to hopefully get some feedback or suggestions that may make the day flow easier. Any suggestions on places of interest would be appreciate because I felt like outside of exploring, I started to run out of ideas to specifically plan out (I tried to snag some popular reservation activities like the Pokemon Cafe or Kirby Cafe but failed lol). Though I can’t help but feel FOMO for not having that many reserved activities.
Also does anyone have any recommendations for these things (I would love to hear some suggestions):
* Kyoto specialties for must try snacks or souvenirs to bring back
* Unagi restaurants in Tokyo
Thanks so much in advance!
**DAY 1 (Oct 7)**
* Landing in HND (Haneda) (around 2pm)
* Pick up Pasmo Passport
* Monorail or Limousine Bus to Shinjuku
* Relax and recover from jet lag
**DAY 2 (Oct 8)**
* Shopping day for some clothes and other essentials
* Shinjuku shops and general exploring within main city area
* Shibuya or Harajuku
* Shibuya Crossing
* Izakaya/Yakiniku/Yakitori dinner somewhere in the area
**DAY 3 (Oct 9)**
* *From my understanding, this is a ‘holiday’ called Sports Day – will this be an issue for places that are open?*
* Visit Shimokitazawa – wanted to explore the thrift shops and interesting shops within the area
* *Looking for any other suggestions that may be convenient/close*
* Wagyu dinner reservation in Shinjuku
**DAY 4 (Oct 10)**
* Autobacs
* teamLab Planets (11am reservation)
* Ginza exploring
* Pokemon Center Tokyo DX
**DAY 5 (Oct 11)**
* Yokohama Day Trip
* Nissan Global HQ Gallery
* Cup Noodle Museum
* Yamashita Park Relax/break
* Gundam Factory
* Yokohama Chinatown dinner and head back to Shinjuku
**DAY 6 (Oct 12)**
* Asakusa
* Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center
* Nakimase-Dori street
* Senso-Ji
* Sumida Park
* Denbo-in garden
* Shinobazu Pond
**DAY 7 (Oct 13)**
* Check out of Shinjuku hotel
* Check into Ikebukuro Hotel
* Visit shops around and explore Ikebukuro
* Sunshine City Observation Deck Ten-bou Park
* Seibu Rooftop Park
**DAY 8 (Oct 14)**
* 2/4 people of our group leave Japan to go home
* Akihabara majority of day?
* arcade/crane game shops
* General anime/nerdy stuff
* Visit Kanda Jinbocho
**DAY 9 (Oct 15)**
* Day trip to Kamakura/Enoshima (hopefully it’s not raining)
* Hokokuji Temple
* Visit the Kamakurakoko-mae Station (From Slam Dunk)
* Enoshima Island
* Evening relax by the beaches
**DAY 10 (Oct 16)**
* 2 nights in Kyoto with a cheap accommodation (travelling light and leaving our heavy luggage in our Tokyo Hotel – sorry if this sounds wasteful)
* Leave early from Tokyo and catch Shinkansen at ~7:30-8am (planning to buy morning of at the station)
* “Free day” – since we’re staying in Downtown Kyoto, we wanted to walk around and get used to the area
* Kyoto International Manga Museum
* Nishiki Market
* Higashiyama District
**DAY 11 (Oct 17)**
* Early morning Arashiyama Bamboo Grove or Adashino Nenbutsu-ji (grab a taxi for around 7am)
* We basically planned to loosley follow 2 halves of a japan-guide itinerary for Arashiyama and Northern Kyoto, but maybe with less temples:
* https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3950_arashiyama_half.html
* https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3950_northern_kyoto_half.html
**DAY 12 (Oct 18)**
* Check out of hotel
* Free-day in Gion area to explore
* Maruyama park
* Return to Tokyo in the evening (arrive in Tokyo before midnight)
**DAY 13 (Oct 19)**
* Unplanned day as of writing **(any suggestions would be appreciated!)**
**DAY 14 (Oct 20)**
* Free day
* Kept open to finalize any last minute shopping/souvenirs/etc
* visit a Don Quixote for buying snacks/cheap things to bring back
**DAY 15 (Oct 20)**
* Check out of Ikebukuro hotel
* Limousine bus from hotel back to HND
EDIT: Text formatting