I am travelling to Japan for 24 days from Australia. I’ve wanted to go since I was a kid and travelling solo for my 40th birthday.
I am going from 12th January 2024 to the 4th February 2024. I really want to know if I am trying to cram too much in to my trip, whether the activities are fine in winter and if other places I should try to add in place of others. Also I’ll be 40 whilst in Kyoto. Anything special to do whilst there on that day?
I love history, food and culture and definitely a massive anime fan and geek. I’m English so any cool British pubs would be interesting also.
Will there be any sumo events happening whilst I’m in Tokyo from the 12th to 20th January 2024 and any Music Open Mic Nights in any of the places I’m going (I play solo acoustic stuff)?
I have been learning Japanese for a few years but whilst my reading is pretty good my spoken isn’t so super nervous. Tempted to find a tutor here for 3 months before I fly to try to improve.
Here is the plan so far:
Day 1 – Land in Tokyo from Narita airport and I land pretty late (6pm I think), so will travel to my hotel in Shinjuku and either rest or just find a local izakaya or restaurant for food.
Day 2 – Tokyo – Ghibli Museum and Shinjuku.
Day 3 – Tokyo – Asakusa and Akihabara Senso ji, Tokyo Skytree.
Day 4 – Tokyo – Shibuya, Yoyogi Park, Meiji Shrine and Takeshita Street.
Day 5 – Hakone Day Trip.
Day 6 – Tokyo – Imperial Palace, Ueno Park and Zoo, Roppongi.
Day 7 – Nikko Day Trip.
Day 8 – Tokyo – Odaima – TeamLabs and Joypolis.
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Leave Tokyo here and my accom will change.
Day 9 – Nagano – Should I stay here for the next 3 days?
Day 10 – Matsumoto.
Day 11 – Takayama.
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I kind of robbed this from a video because it seemed super cool. Is it best to travel to Kyoto late on Day 11 or early on Day 12 to give me enough time in Kyoto?
Day 12 Kyoto – Kiyomizudera, Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park, Gion.
Day 13 Kyoto – Bamboo Forest, Romantic Train and Kinkakuji Temple.
Day 14 Kyoto – Fushimi Inari, Nishiki Market, Higashi Honganji.
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Day 15 Travel to Hiroshima and relax at hotel and local.
Day 16 Hiroshima – Explore properly.
Day 17 – Day Trip to Miyajima Island.
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Day 18 Okayama – Travel and stay around Okayama.
Day 19 Okayama – Himeji Castle
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Again should I travel to Osaka from Himeji or travel early day 20?
Day 20 Osaka.
Day 21 Day Trip to Nara.
Day 22 Day Trip to Kobe.
Day 23 Osaka.
Day 24 – Fly Out late from Osaka.
Thanks so much for your time.