2 Weeks in November (Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nara)

6 comments

1. Looks fabulous! Enjoy.

2. Looks great!! I’m doing very similar itinerary with my wife in June. Tokyo -> Hakone -> Osaka -> Kyoto – Tokyo and doing day trip to Hiroshima and Nara from Osaka!

   One tip from my research – do you both have iPhones? If so you can add Suica to your apple wallet and load yen with credit card. I already have my wife and I set up! Also downloaded Ubigi app and set up already as well, your phone will be on network when you land and you can buy data before. I chose both these options so we can avoid any lines for welcome suica or pocket Wi-Fi/physical SIM! We pretty much just have to grab bags and jump on train to Tokyo.

3. Looks good 🙂 enough time for everything, not too much planned

4. I’d say ditch the pocket wifi, and get yourself an unlimited data sim, or e-sim if you can find a decent package. I think you’d be saving your self a dime.

   I was recommended Sakura mobile by someone on here, and had absolutely no problems anywhere with it. Probably one of the best things I ever got, as I wasn’t faffing around with another device and keeping it charged. You order it online, and can have it either delivered to you at your hotel, or for collection at one of their Sakura Mob offices (Shinjuku is the one I went to). You only generally get 4G throughout Japan but it’s more than decent enough if it’s just for casual browsing. If you collect it from the office, they pretty much sit with you to help you set it up from start to finish. One thing I would say is don’t leave it to the last minute to do this, as it can take 2 business days to deliver. I made the mistake of doing this, and ended up waiting a whole day without data before I could get mine.

   Hope this helps!

5. I just finished what you did for Day 6 but I did it over two days: one day exploring the city and memorial and the other just for the island. Your itinerary for Day 6 might be exhausting, esp that you’re coming from a 2-3 hour train ride one way. I suggest you choose the island over the memorial, or at the very least, go through the memorial quickly before going to the island. Keep in mind the JR lines to get from memorial to island is out of the way, so you will need extra time. I’m assuming you have the JR pass so you can definitely explore Hiroshima with only your JR pass.

6. I see heaps of people posting, but Hiroshima and Miyajima isn’t a day trip from Kyoto. Miyajima alone is a day trip from Hiroshima. Unless you want to rush like a madman it’s not gonna be a fun day.

   You could possibly do it, but you’d need to leave at like 7am and you’d get to the island just before lunch, see the shrine and leave immediately. To provide some context if you hit every connection perfectly, it would be 3-4 hours from Kyoto to the Island. That’s not allowing for stopping for food, toilets, or generally giving yourself time to navigate the stations you are unfamiliar with. I personally in a foreign country like to arrive 20-30 mins for a train especially a Shinkansen. Bear in mind when you get to Hiroshima it’s another 1hr to 1hr 30 to Miyajima. If you go to Miyajima you’ll never have time to do Hiroshima properly such as the museum.

   Recommend staying the night on Miyajima it’s magical or just doing Hiroshima only.