Myself, my husband and a group of friends (8 total people) are all going to Japan together in about 2 weeks and I am very excited. I do speak ok Japanese, I was better when I lived there 20 years ago so I am hoping it helps and more comes back. I lived in Okinawa and Kyushu and besides the airport I have never been to Tokyo, never been to Kyoto.
We are trying to pack in a lot but I would love some extra set of eyes to see if there is anything we are missing. For some of these things the group will split up depending on interests as I already know we won’t be able to do it all. We are going to be as go with the flow as we can but if you think there is something we absolutely shouldn’t miss please chime in! Thank you.
Day 1-3 travel to Okinawa, Arrive 9:30am Naha, take a shower at the Hanaclub at the airport. Caffiene up, get our rental vehicles and explore kokusaidori area, Makishi market, Tsuboya pottery street, then on to Shurijo, Desmond Doss point, Zakimijo as we make our way to where we are staying in Maeda.
Day 4- Back down south, Okinawa Prefecture museum, pick up the rest of the group at the Naha Airport, Ryukyu Glass Village, Peace Memorial Park, Okinawa World, Mibaru beach and Sea-utaki
Day 5- Up North, Churanami Aquarium, Nakijin ruins, sesoko beach, Cape Manzamo, Ogimi village
Day 6- Central and beach day. Blue Cave, Cape Zanpa lighthouse, Futenma Shrine, Nakagusukujo, Ryukyumura.
Day 7-Travel day. Flight from Naha to Osaka. Osaka Castle and grounds then train to Kyoto where we will be staying in HigashiyamaChou
Day 8- Fushimi Inari Taishi (hope to get there very early and check it out as our morning exercise then get ready for the rest of the day at our airbnb), Kyoto National Museum, Sannenzaka up to Kiyomizudera, eating/shopping at Nishiki Market and Terramachi, ending our day with a tour and Geisha show in Gion.
Day 9- Nanzen-ji, Philosophers path, Kyocera Museum of Art, Samurai experience in central Kyoto and Kyoto Gyoen.
Day 10- to the west. Sagano Bamboo Grove, Kimono Forest, Arashiyama Monkey park, Otagi Newbutsuji, Sagano scenic railway trolley, Roanji, Kinkakuji
Day 11- travel day to Tokyo, Staying in Shinjuku.
Day 12, 13 and 14th in Tokyo, fly out Day 15th.
We are still deciding the rest of the itinerary because we want to do a Mt. Fuji day tour and they seem to only go out of Tokyo. It would be ideal to do it on the route from Kyoto to Tokyo so if you know of anything please chime in!
Tokyo itinerary includes lots of eating and shopping. Asakusa, Meiji Jingu, Tsikiji Market, Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree, Harajuku, an animal cafe, Tokyo Met art museum, Sumida Hokusai Museum, Ota Memorial Museum of Art, maybe Ghibli museum and some of the group want to do a Sumo experience.
Oh and I have what is probably a really dumb question but JR pass. Works for subways too right?
4 comments
For Osaka and Tokyo, most subway lines are run by the municipality so not covered by JR pass.
JR passes only work on JR lines (not on Metro lines).
My only concern would be finding restaurants that will take reservations for 8 people, especially in big cities and on busy days. Try to make a reservation to those places you really want to go as soon as you possible.
JR pass only works on the Yamanote line in Tokyo and train that pass through the other cities. You will have to get an IC card and load it up for all the metros in the cities. Good thing is that the same card works in all the cities.
Also your day 7 seems odd. Osaka castle is just fine I guess, but what are you doing with your luggage?
For JR pass use Japan travel official App. You can select specific tourist pass and will show train etc in selected pass for your route search.